A Child Feels All
by Jester310
Summary: A phone call from the Child Protective Services changes Eustass Kid's life, especially when told that he has a half brother he never knew about. Can they adjust to a life as a family when Luffy carries a dark past with him? About family, acceptance and dealing with personality disorder. Modern AU setting.
1. Silent Child

**Chapter 1: Silent Child**

**Rating: T**

**Genre: Family/Comfort/Hurt**

**Warnings: Angst, OOC-ness and grammar**

**Summary: A phone call from the Child Protective Services changes Eustass Kid's life, especially when told that he has a half brother he never knew about. Can they adjust to a life as a family when Luffy carries a dark past with him? Modern AU setting.**

**A/N: OMG. This is my third attempt in writing sad story involving Luffy. The ideas just rushed into me out of nowhere and I'm hell excited. Too excited in fact, I didn't do much re-check, so there should be dozens of grammar mistakes. Be gentle with me. T.T . Still, hope you guys enjoy it.**

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**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**Name: Monkey D. Luffy**

**Age: 8 years old**

**Sex: Male**

**Eye color: Brown**

**Description: Due to the death of legal guardian (mother), child is placed under the care of child protection agency until a permanent placement can be made. Negligence, physical and psychological abuse by previous guardian detected.**

10 minutes.

That was the exact time taken by Kidd to analyze every word printed on the simple white paper. No flowery design, no cartoon character at the corner, just words. Even reading a newspaper took less time than this. For the umpteenth times, his amber eyes scanned the document to digest the information, from top to bottom. At last, he lowered the paper from obscuring his face and placed it back onto the oak table. Although the redhead forced himself to make a neutral expression, he knew he was frowning, even for the slightest.

His earlier guess wasn't far off track though when he saw the blonde lady in front of him, only a table apart wore a concern look. A little intimidated maybe.

"So," The woman with the nametag spelled 'Ms. Conis' drawled. "What is your decision, Mr. Eustass?"

Silent hung in the air, except for the thrumming noise of the air conditioner. Suddenly, Kidd felt the room seemed smaller than it supposed to be. Deep and intense calculation was whirling inside his head. This was no regular decision. It wasn't to decide whether to have pancakes or toast for breakfast, or which clothes to wear for today. No, this was entirely different.

For this, Kidd actually had spent the entire weekend thinking.

Taking a deep breath, the man finally gave out his answer. "I'll do it."

The concern look was still apparent on her face. Only now, there was a small frown added to the expression. "Are you certain, Mr. Eustass? This is a big decision. You cannot back down if—"

A single sharp look from Kidd was more than enough to make the blonde snap her mouth shut and cowered against the black, leather chair.

"You think I'm not capable?"

"No, of course not!" She squeaked, almost like a small animal when barked by a dog. Lost for words, Conis manicured fingers quickly grabbed the forgotten blue colored file by the edge and brought it closer.

She unfolded the file and slowly pushed it towards the redhead. "If that's the case, these are the particulars that you need to fill in before putting down your sign."

Another words filled paper, Kidd sighed inwardly before reaching for the black ink ball pen sitting idly on the desk.

Another fifteen minutes spent inside the cold room before the man finally done with filling the paperwork. Once finished, Kidd put down the pen and pushed the file back to the awaiting blonde.

Baby blue eyes scanned every piece of paper to make sure the blanks were all filled in correctly. Satisfied, Conis closed the file and focused her attention back to the man.

"Alright. Are you ready?"

Kidd nodded. Words of confirmation weren't necessary when she knew what will be the answer. Both of them stood up while pushing the chair further away with the back of their knees. They exited the room in silence—Conis first, followed by Kidd.

Aside from the clacking sound their shoes were making, they walked in silence as Conis led the way through the hallway. There was nothing else to discuss about since he was already briefed earlier when he first stepped into the office. After making a few turns, she stopped in front of a corner room. Unlike other doors Kidd has seen so far inside the building, this one was different. Instead of painted with burgundy color along a single door tag hung in the middle, a vibrantly colored mural was painted on this one—fury animals of rabbits, cats and foxes in a hot air balloon.

Then, the petite blonde turned to him and gave a tiny smile as she grabbed the knob. "Here we go."

With a single flick of her wrist, the door creaked open, revealing the only occupant inside the room.

**XxXxXxXx****Four days earlier…XxXxXxXxXxXx**

"THERE'S A WHAT?" Kidd's muffled voice came from behind the hood of a car.

With all the noises made by the machineries inside the big garage, it was no surprise that the redhead couldn't perceive his earlier remark. It didn't make it any easier when he was standing right next to another car who's the mechanic was pressing down the accelerator.

Killer moved forward by few steps and shouted again. "I SAID THERE'S A PHONE CALL FOR YOU!"

As expected, a red blob (more like a spike) immerged from underneath the hood. Although his goggles were still on, the blonde male was certain Kidd was frowning in confusion. With a small shrug, Kidd tossed the wrench in his hand into the tool box and made his way towards the waiting room.

"Who is it?" The redhead inquired as he passed his blonde friend who was munching on a chocolate bar.

"Don't know, didn't recognize the voice. It's a woman that's for sure." Killer mumbled.

The frown marred the pale face went deeper. Who could it be? No one has ever contacted him via the shop's phone; much less came from a woman. As he approached the room, the pondering still hung in the air but Kidd simply brushed it off. The only way to find out was to answer the damn phone and be done with it, wasn't it?

Dragging a wooden chair along as he reached the small table, he placed it on the floor before he sat down, left leg crossed over the right one. Kidd picked up the receiver and brought it up close to his ear.

"Eustass speaking." The redhead started, his voice was in medium note. The room he was in was a lot cooler than outside, and Kidd sighed in relief.

The room itself was simple and bland looking, in contrast with those of high class offices belonged to great companies—the walls were coated with vanilla color, lined with pictures of vintage car and an equally boring calendar. Then, there were few other chairs, a beat up couch, a water cooler, T.V and a coffee table. The floor wasn't furnished with carpet since the shop owner knew better that his workers were a bunch of douchebag whose lazy enough to peel their work boots off when entering sacred room.

"Oh good afternoon, Mr. Eustass." The voice at the other end of the receiver greeted him. The manner of speaking was professional, unlike the laidback, rough conversation he hears everyday in the car repair shop. This cannot be good.

"My name is Conis and I'm calling from the Child Protective Services."

The first part of the speech sounded a little blurry for Kidd. It was the second part that pulled his attention. Why would the CPS call him?

"Based on the document sent to me," The redhead picked up the sound of rustling paper. "… Eustass Layla is your birth mother, am I correct?"

Something stirred inside him. Mother huh… Kidd wondered why the word sounded so foreign even to his ears. The last time he heard the term 'mother' was probably twelve years ago when the person who carries that title left the house. With a single luggage clutched in her hand, the mechanic recalled the scene of the front door slammed shut and the string of words from her mouth that even a two year old kid could recognize as bad words. It wasn't a rosy glasses memory, and Kidd preferred not to remember much of what happened afterward.

"Yes, she is. Why do you ask?" Kidd demanded. The feeling of uneasiness started to build up inside him. It certainly wasn't an everyday thing to get called by CPA, questioning about your forgotten mother.

There was a short pause, as if the person behind the receiver was deep in her thought, calculating. At last, she responded. "I'm going to get straight to the point, Mr. Eustass."

The serious demeanor in that tone caused Kidd to straighten his pose. This ought to be important after all.

"Your mother passed away last month."

Almost a minute passed by until the man could give an appropriate come back. At least to him it sounded appropriate. "Oh, I see."

When Kidd knew he should at least pronounce the words a little bit sadly, the redhead didn't make an effort at all. Not when he had forgotten long time ago the sensation of having a person referred as 'mother' around. Now, the words that left his mouth were flat. There weren't hateful, but there was neither compassion nor sadness present at the same time.

"How is that related with child protective service?"

"It doesn't." She replied. "It's the later issue that I'm calling you for. It states here that your mother remarried and had a child."

At the moment, Kidd was making a frantic calculation. That means—

"That makes that child your half brother." The woman beat him to it. "So here's the thing. With her death and the father has long been missing from the household, there are no one to care for him. We are unable to track down his other kin, except for you, who is the closest, biological family member."

Something must have died in his throat because he couldn't even meek, let alone making out intelligent phrase.

"Are you still with me, Mr. Eustass?"

Swallowing the hard lump, Kidd worked on his jaws. "Yeah. So uh…" He drawled, knowing the exact reason why she had called him.

"Mr. Eustass, we, the child protective service is asking if you are willing to adopt him and become his legal guardian. I know this is too sudden for you, so I will give you this entire week to make decision. You can give me your answer by this Saturday, and perhaps you could come down to the agency?"

"… Yeah, sure." His voice was soft Kidd could barely recognize it himself.

Another shuffling sound was heard behind the receiver. "That's all for now. Have a nice day, Mr. Eustass."

A click. Then the line was dead. But Kidd was still holding the receiver in his hand for a good two minutes before he finally placed it back down. The one sided staring contest between him and the inanimate object prolonged until he heard a fake cough coming from behind.

There, leaning against the door frame, was Killer. Similar to him, the blonde wore a pair of dingy, dark grey coveralls, except that, they were cinched around his waist with a black tank top covering his torso.

"Is everything okay?" Questioned his friend while eyeing the jittery man before him. His chocolate bar had long gone, now replaced with a cheap-branded cheese cracker. The crunching sound filled the entire quiet room.

"Yeah…" Finally, Kidd finally found his voice. "…Yeah, everything's fine."

Deep down, the redhead knew Killer would be the last person on the earth to buy his little white lie, but otherwise he was glad when the blond didn't press the matter further.

**XxXxXxXx Present time…XxXxXxXxXxXx**

Dark.

That was the best description Kidd could think of at the exact moment his eyes casted upon the figure before him.

His hair was dark as the raven in mid flight.

His eyes seemed dark as ebony, despite the information on the paper stated that they were actually brown. When the orbs met his amber eyes, Kidd felt the chill ran up and down along his spine. Which was the exact opposite of what the mechanic had expected. Before this, most first timer would cower or at least flinch at his appearance. At the age of 23, he was 6' 4" tall, with flaming red hair, strong built with broad shoulders and a scowling face. Yeah, he pretty much leaves a strong impression.

Except for this one. The figure, which stood a couple of feet shorter than him only gave him a look that Kidd couldn't exactly put a word to it. It wasn't the type of boring or 'I-don't-know-who-you-are-so-I-don't-give-shit' look.

It was cold and as silent as the dead of night.

Conis was the first to break the eerie silence inside the room. "Luffy…"

The one who carried the name shifted his gaze and turned to the lady. He didn't answer her, but the action of looking back at the blond meant that the boy acknowledged her.

As though Conis was dealing a small animal, she slowly made her way towards the boy and crouched down so she was on his eye level. "This is Mr. Eustass Kidd, the one I told you about." Her voice was gentle like a summer breeze, enough to make an infant lulled to sleep. "He's your brother. So from now one, you'll be staying with him."

Once again, the child named Luffy let his gaze fall on the man. He stared with unreadable expression. Nothing beyond that. The short untamed hair slightly obscured his eyes, but behind those bangs, Kidd didn't fail to notice the small scar just underneath his left eyes. Around 3'8" tall, the child looked more like a 6 year old boy rather than 8. Shouldn't boys at his age be few inches taller? When he was at his age, Kidd was already reaching 4'4".

Then, Luffy nodded slowly, at last acknowledging his presence in the room before his eyes darted away, suddenly interested with the pictured wall on his left. They lingered on the painting of purples stripped, tabby cat that looked a lot like Cheshire Cat.

"Hey." Kidd greeted with the simplest form of word. Part of him, he didn't know how to act in front of his newly found brother. To be honest, Kidd didn't have the slightest idea how to handle an 8 year old boy.

"So…" Time to escape the awkward silence, Kidd mused. "Where's his stuff?" The sooner they leave the agency, the better. That place somehow made him all skittish.

"Oh, it's here." Standing up, Conis pointed at the certain spot. Two meters away, resting idly on the floor was the smallest duffel bag Kidd has ever seen in his life. He didn't know the bag was available for this size.

Frowning, the man shot a disbelieving look at the women. "Is this all?" Damn, even people who goes to 2 days and 1 night camping has larger bag than this.

"Yes." She nodded, sympathy was laced in her voice. "This is all we could find in the house. His other clothes weren't really that… wearable to say."

Taken back, the redhead could only close his mouth from making any further comment. Looking back, Luffy was covered in simple clothes in the first place, probably courtesy of the agency. He wore a knee length shorts, a blue and white stripped collared T-shirts and a pair of black snickers.

With a mental notes to buy the kid new clothes, Kidd picked up the light bag. "Is there anything else? Can I take him home now?"

The blond shook her head, causing her earrings to dangle slightly. "No, there isn't. He is free to go."

Before Kidd could say anything else, Conis bent down her frame to have last words with Luffy, though it can be hardly considered as conversation when the boy wasn't saying anything in verbal. "Good bye, Luffy. Be good to your brother, alright?"

In which he only responded by casting his eyes lower towards the carpeted floor. Nobody knew what lingered in Luffy's thought at the moment. Nobody at all.

"Alright, we are leaving then." Kidd slowly paced across the room, knowing well enough Luffy would follow him suit. He was right though. Through the sideway glance, the boy trailed behind him, two small steps apart.

After a simple, professional farewell, both brothers left the agency.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Nothing peculiar with today's weather, it was favorable in fact. With the lack of the blazing sun, some clouds here and there, and a little bit wind. The type of wind that was slow, moving around 8-12 knots, best referred as gentle breeze. It fluttered across the body and gently through your hair, pulling Kidd away from feeling anxious and stress.

After changing multiple trains and busses, Kidd finally reached the familiar town with an 8 year old child tagging along. Instead of walking behind him, Luffy was now pacing next to him, eyes staring at the distance. Those orbs were looking at nothing in particular. He was there, right beside him, but at the same time, Kidd felt like he was alone on the street. Like the kid didn't emit any presence at all.

Kidd recalled the earlier conversation when he was first arrived at the office:

"**My mother… How did she die?" There was no purpose in asking that, but somehow as her son, Kidd sensed that he ought to know. Like an obligation.**

**Lacing her fingers on the desk, Conis appeared to be hesitated, but otherwise, responded to him. "Suicide. She hung herself…"**

**Typical of her. Miraculously, that didn't shock him. "Did the kid—"**

"**Oh no, he didn't." She interrupted, knowing well what dwelled in his mind. "Thank God he didn't witness it. He was at school during that time. The neighbor saw the front door was opened and took a peek inside. That's when… you can guess the rest."**

**Kidd couldn't agree more. Witnessing your dead mother dangling on the ceiling with a rope around her neck, her bulging eyes probably stared back at you, even adults would have nightmare for weeks. And the boy was only 8 years old.**

A sudden strong gush of wind brought his mind back to the present. Looking up, the redhead caught the sight of soothing streaks of color, lighting up the sky like a fire. The sun, like a ball of energy, wrapped by the clouds with strokes of pink and orange acted as the background. Simple as it sounded, the scenery had a calming effect on him. During this moment, birds probably had return to their perspective nest while nocturnal creature began to crawl out.

They had spent more than half a day outside and Kidd wasn't even aware.

"Hey uhh…" For the second time of the day, the mechanic beckoned the boy.

Luffy looked up at him, eyes void of emotion.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

Lips secured tight, the boy didn't utter anything, but Kidd visualized he had nodded. He had to, for he knew it would take some time and patience for Luffy to open up due to his condition.

"C'mon." Kidd urged him to match his pace. "Let's get something to eat."

Few buildings passed by, they finally stood in front of a café. The signboard of 'Spider Café' hanged on top of the entrance and Luffy had to strain his neck a bit to read the letter. Kidd wrapped his hand around the brushed silver handle of the glass door and held open the door for Luffy to enter first, he followed after.

The moment he stepped inside, Kidd breathed in. Underneath the whiff of multiple dishes, the redhead still could distinguish the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Although he visited cheap local diner more often (mainly because they serves the food faster), Kidd still favored this place. Low, warm lighting gave the space a cozy atmosphere that can numb down any form of psychological stress.

Perfect for someone like Luffy, who was suffering from **avoidant personality disorder**.[2]

Dozens of painted metal tables arranged in a way that made the café seemed more spacious and each of them was surrounded on all sides by dining chairs. Each wall of the place was plastered with light brown wallpapers with the illustration of checker board and fat cats. Artistic paintings were hanged at numerous spots, adding a life force to the place. Kidd had heard the works of art were done by one of the worker.

They settled into a table in the corner next to the window, facing each other. For a Saturday evening, the café was surprisingly vacant. A young woman sat alone in the far corner with a cup of tea, rapidly tapping the keyboards of her slick laptop. Once in a while, she scrunched her nose in annoyance. In the middle, a middle cage couple was enjoying their early dinner along with what Kidd expected to be their granddaughter. There are few other people, but only keeping silent to themselves.

Kidd reached for the menu stacked at the edge of the table and pulled two—one for him and another for Luffy. It didn't take long for Kidd to scan down the menu since he had already decided what he wanted. In the mood for something simple, the mechanic opted the chicken club sandwich.

Looking up, the redhead saw Luffy was mimicking him—scanning the menu. His gaze moved around, from top to bottom, left to right. But it didn't linger at any specific meal. Which meant, the boy didn't know on what to get. Not a good sign.

"What do you want?" Asked Kidd. Luffy didn't as much look at him, his eyes still fixated on the menu.

"Luffy." Kidd tried again. The café was in quiet mode, so he doubted the boy didn't hear his earlier question. In other words, he was practically being ignored.

At hearing his name being called, Luffy lifted his head and met the older man's eyes before tearing his gaze away.

"Um…" Luffy said quietly for the first time. It wasn't even a word, but at least there was a progress. Now Kidd was hundred percent certain that his brother wasn't mute.

Did he just refer the kid as his brother? Of course he was, but still, it sounded so… alien.

"Well?" The redhead pressed.

"Anything is fine." The voice finally formed a perfect whole sentence. It was small and relatively high and Kidd could hear it damn fine.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, the slightly high-pitched voice was kind of cute.

He added, "You choose."

Sighing, the mechanic decided that was enough for now. At least, Luffy was talking.

Soon enough, a familiar waitress was striding towards them. Middle school girl with her brunette hair neatly braided, she stood before him with a small curiosity in her eyes. She was a relative to the owner and usually spent her weekend helping out at the café. In addition, she was the miracle, talented girl who did all the paintings as mentioned earlier.

"Eustass…" Recognizing the man, she drawled his name. "Haven't seen you for a while."

"What's wrong? Have this place gone bankrupt while I was gone?" Kidd joked though he knew that wouldn't happen in the nearest future.

Producing a rice cracker out of nowhere, she nibbled on the snack while eyeing Luffy. "Who is this…?"

"Long story, kiddo. Where's Paula?" In order to escape more interrogation, Kidd quickly changed the subject. It worked.

"She went out a bit to order new sets up tea cup." In laid back manner, she responded before fishing out a notepad from the front pocket of her apron while the half eaten rice cracker dangled in between her lips. "Yogh oghder?" The speech was slurred thanks to the snack clenched in between her front teeth.

"Chicken club sandwich and water." Kidd muttered out. When she turned and gave a questioning look to the boy's direction, the man added, "He'll have chicken burger set and orange juice."

"'Kaayyy…" The girl scribbled down their orders before leaving the table while humming an unrecognized tune.

The boy got the impression that the man in front of him was silently observing him. So Luffy ignored it. By the time he looked passed the window, the sun was long gone, leaving behind the clouds in the mercy of darkness. Nevertheless, the clouds that assembled together like a flock of sheep still could be spotted even for the faintest. But Luffy didn't fret himself to guess what sort of shape the clouds were making.

There was no necessity in doing that. Nobody has commanded for such. When lived with his alcoholic mother with major depression disorder, Luffy had learnt an important lesson.

Always do what was told and nothing beyond that. Questions, opinions and personal necessity must be avoided at all cost because if any of the above carried out, it would only lead towards offense. Without doubt, he would be the easiest pray for any act of violence.

So, when the food arrived on the table and Kidd murmured 'eat up' to him, Luffy would exonerate his mind from anything and did as told. Even if he dislike the sourly taste of the pickles and orange juice or anything that was orange flavor. But he shoved the wicked thought far away and swallowed whole, not even a scrap left. If he was granted with shark-like teeth, the boy wouldn't hesitate to devour the plate and glass along.

They ate in silent and didn't take a long time to finish their meal. Mainly because they didn't extend the clock by chit-chating, asking each other anything. It was the most awkward and tense dinner Kidd has experienced in his entire life.

The boy had eaten indiscriminately. Nothing was left on his plate. No leftover, not even a ketchup stain on the surface. Most people would clap their hands and praise the boy for not being a picky, but not Kidd. It was… odd, in his opinion. Normal boys mostly must have something they don't like to eat and left it out. The salad, the pickle or maybe the onion. The same theory applied to Kidd. Until now, he still loathed the presence of pickles in his meal. Did Luffy was truly a miracle worker who wasn't picky when it comes to food? That, or did he fear that he would be scolded when foods wasn't polished from the plate?

Kidd sighed inwardly. This was harder than he thought would be.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

As the pair exited the café, the biting night wind chilled the man to the core and he shuddered. He should have brought a coat with him after all. Then Kidd glanced at the kid who didn't even flinch.

And for him too, the redhead thought.

Ten minutes of non-hurry walking, they reached in front of Kidd's apartment. Fishing out the keys from his side pocket, the mechanic unlocked the door. On instinct, his hand scrambled for the switched and once the tip of his fingers recognized the protruding bump on the wall, he pressed. And light was turned on.

It wasn't a type of rundown apartment, but it was far from fancy or luxurious either. Although Kidd could afford much better one, a condo perhaps thanks to his late father's long life saving that he inherited, he didn't feel the need to do so. This place was comfortable to live in and close to his work place.

Closing the door behind him after Luffy had entered, Kidd stride across the living room and along the short distance hall while passing the kitchen before arriving to his bedroom. With his short legs, Luffy had the difficulty to match the man's pace. So when he finally caught up with Kidd, the taller male was inside his bedroom and in the middle of setting down the duffel bag on the floor next to queen sized bed. Luffy shuffled into the midsize room, waiting.

"It's a short notice so I haven't bought a bed for you." Once he deposited the bag, Kidd turned to face the boy. He was inside the room, but clearly Luffy was keeping his distance. There was another empty room at the other end of hall, close to the kitchen, but as described, it was clear from any type of furniture since Kidd never had a roommate before.

"We'll find a bed and other stuff tomorrow. For tonight, you can have the bed here and I'll settle on the couch… or something." Seeing Luffy nodding slowly, Kidd looked around to think of the next step.

Then he went to his birch wardrobe and opened the bottom drawer only to produce a fresh, clean towel. "Here, why don't you take a bath then you can go to sleep early. We'll be having another long day tomorrow."

And thank god tomorrow is Sunday.

The small hand grasped the cotton fabric from Kidd's hand. Just as Luffy was about to reach for his bag to pull out his night clothes, the redhead halted him. "Just go ahead and take a shower. I'll sort out your clothes."

The boy looked at him with a blank gaze. For a moment only though before he followed the instruction and left the room. Kidd stared at the direction where he had last seen his brother until the soft footfall of bare feet vanished, followed by the clicking sound of the closing bathroom door.

Don't get him wrong. It wasn't as if he purposely forced Luffy to appear half naked in front of him later for a sick pleasure.

There was something else that Kidd needed to verify.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

In the shower, Luffy enjoyed the feeling of the hot water running down every inch of his small frame. He tilted up his head in every attention for the messaging spray to fall straight into his face. After a minute or two staying in that position, the raven haired boy ran his fingers through locks to check for any shampoo residue. None. His hair was squeaky clean and so was his body.

Satisfied, Luffy twisted the knob to turn of the shower and reached for the hanging towel. The smell of fresh linen was still there as he patted it all over his body to remove the excess water. Almost touching the floor, the boy wrapped the towel around his waist and curled them at the top to erase any possibility for the woolly material to get dragged along the wet floor.

As he entered the bedroom, his night clothes were there, displayed on the bed. It was the baby blue pajama with the image of different color kittens printed all over the top shirts and pants. The blonde lady had bought it for him during the first night he arrived at the agency.

"Hurry up and wear the clothes, Luffy. You'll get cold like that." Kidd murmured, his back was facing him as he rummaged the wardrobe.

Extra blanket and pillow in his hand, Kidd turned back and saw Luffy remained next to his bed, half naked. Just the way the man wanted it.

That way, he could inspect it.

From the document he studied earlier in the office, it stated that Luffy was physically abused. Kidd wanted to find out the damage inflicted on the boy first handedly.

This was where it got stranger.

There was none.

Either the florescence light illuminated the room poorly or Kidd's eyesight was getting bad, he couldn't detect anything on Luffy. Scars, bruises and healing cuts; none of the above could be spotted at any part of his skin. There wasn't any evidence of abuse at all! Although his frame was small, Kidd knew it was due to the bone structure, not from malnutrition.

Did he read the document wrong? There was no way for scars or bruises to disappear in only a couple of week.

Oblivious that his brother was examining him, Luffy slowly climbed the bed halfway to reach for his pajama that was in the middle of the bed.

That was when Kidd caught sight of them and immediately he felt something like a barb wire coiled around his heart. It ached.

There, on the bottom surface of Luffy feet were numerous marks. Burnt marks to be precise and all of them were around ten millimeters in circumference. It didn't need a genius with an IQ of 200 to guess those marks came from a burnt cigarette.

Kidd clenched the blanket in his hand tight enough for his knuckles to turn white. That woman probably selected that particular area so outsider wouldn't notice any evident of violence. Because if report is made, lawsuit might be subjected to perpetrators of abuse and in this case, it would be the mother.

Her own blood. Her own flesh. And yet…

He didn't know for how long he had been staring into space but by the time Kidd snapped back, Luffy was already fully clothed, watching him, and standing next to the bed.

"Alright…" Kidd said, readjusting the insensate bundle in his hand. "All done… Sleep time then."

At what Luffy considered as command, he climbed back into the bed and slowly dove under the cover. Then, the redhead made his way out and paused by the door frame while his free hand reached for the switch. Back on the bed, Kidd saw a shifting movement underneath the blanket, assuming the boy was adjusting his sleeping posture before it went still.

"I'm turning off the light." Informed the mechanic to the soon-to-be sleeping figure. "I'll let the door open a bit, alright? If there's anything, I'll be in the living room."

Without waiting for any form of confirmation, Kidd flicked the switch and darkness immediately engulfed the entire room.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The bone chilling night was enveloped by noises from the howling wind and rustling leaves. Occasionally, there was a tapping sound made by the tree branches knocking on the glass window.

Tap…

Tap…

Tap…

It didn't feel ordinary, like something wasn't right.

As fear started to creep in and captured his attention, Luffy felt his tiny palms starting to get sweaty. He had thought to for Kidd, but the boy had known better not to wake a possible sleeping lion.

Mama had educated him the lesson. Through the hard way nevertheless.

Staying still was what he did, though he felt something coiled around his neck, causing the breathing act itself was like a tough procedure.

All of sudden, everything went silent. It was as if the time itself had stopped and all movement ceased. Not all though. The sound of the tapping persisted, paused, then followed by the clicking noise of the window hatch being opened. Luffy held his breaths and tried to be still as much as his body was able to. His heart started thumping in his chest, so hard he could feel the front of his pajama moving.

And waiting. Something was approaching his bed in a very slow manner, almost like creeping. Or slithering like a serpent. It was making a rhythm. A horrendous one.

It paused. Then the bed cover was torn, leaving the boy bare for any assault. Pitch black, Luffy couldn't see the assailant, except for the feeling of his neck getting throttled, killing the chances to call for help. His limbs trashed around in a hope to slacken the grip, but all the effort was only for naught. At the same time, the offending claws were shaking him, hard and persistently. It yelled his name, though Luffy wondered how it knew his name. The shaking act continued until his pitch black world distorted, replaced by the sudden pour of blinding glow.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

An ear-piercing scream tore Kidd from his slumber rather violently. Too violent, he actually tumbled from couch. Confusion mixed with panic, amber eyes darted around to determine the source of the noise. It wasn't an every night basis to be woken up by a screaming fit, so it took more than necessary time to get his consciousness to fully kick in.

Wha—Luffy!

That sudden realization made him to bolt towards his bedroom and like a pro, he switched on the light. He squinted, eyes quickly scanned the whole room. On the bed, Luffy was trashing, his limbs were flailing as though he was wrestling with something big. The bedcover was nowhere to be found on the mattress since it was resting on the floor.

Three long strides were all it took for Kidd to reach by the bedside. His large hands quickly grabbed the narrow shoulders and gave a quick shakes. Back and forth, back and forth. After few failed attempts, the man was ready to make a dash towards the bathroom to retrieve some water and splash Luffy with it. But before he could proceed, the child finally opened his eyes so sudden, Kidd thought they might popped out from his eye sockets.

Like any other person who just experienced a nightmare, Luffy was drenched in sweat, his bangs were sticking to his forehead. His breathings were labored, and his eyes dilated almost to a size of an olive, darting towards all direction. He was inspecting the room.

"Hey, hey calm down. It's me." Kidd held his brother's head to gain his attention. When that worked, he continued speaking with the most gentle and softest voice he could muster. "It's okay. It's only a nightmare."

Slowly, the dilated eyes went back to the normal size. Even his breathing had started to calm down but the fear was still there.

"Wait here. I'll be right back." And Kidd sprinted to the kitchen and filled the glass from the dish rack with cold water. Almost stumbling on his way, the mechanic emerged back inside the room, a glass of water in his hand and walked over to the bed.

He held the rim of the glass up near Luffy's dry lips. "Here, drink this."

Half of glass water later, Luffy nodded and the man pulled the glass back only to have it placed on the bedside table.

"Okay?" Kidd asked, eyes concerned.

"Yeah." Luffy answered although he wasn't sure which part Kidd was referring to.

Retrieving the cover back from the floor, Kidd spread it out and waited for the boy to lie back down on the mattress. Once his tiny head rested on the center of the pillow, the older male covered to small frame with the dark green comforter up until his chin. He tried his best to tuck in Luffy, to make an 8 year old boy felt comfortable… and safe.

"Get back to sleep, 'kay…" He murmured softly and padded as quietly as possible from the room before switching off the light.

As he reached the center of the living room, Kidd immediately slouched into the traditional grey couch and let out a deep sigh. Resting his head against the furniture, there was no way he could return back to his slumber. Not when another screaming fit might follow suit. It was only his first night, and Luffy was already taunted by nightmare.

It was just a start and Kidd was aware of that.

**-To be Continued- **

**Note (1): The waitress in the café is Miss Goldenweek if you haven't figured it out. Somehow I forgot to mention her name.**

**Note (2): Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) is a personality disorder recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders handbook in a person characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation, and avoidance of social interaction.  
**

**A/N: *Pant*Pant* This is the first time in my life finishing up two chapters (diff. story) within a week and I'm pretty much look like a panda right now. Hail to panda! *Dipping omelet into the instant oat*. Anyway, for this story I want the diversity in my characters so it wont revolve only among supernovas. And ooh, totally major AU for this one. *sorting the damn onion from the egg* **


	2. Flavor of the Day

**Chapter 2: Flavor of the Day **

**A/N: This is just a short chapter with lack of plot and stuff. So uh… please forgive me! Hiieeeee! *From under the table* For those who gave review so far, kisses and roses for you guys!**

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**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx **

At 12.32 PM, they arrived in front of the first clothes store on the street. Earlier on that day, Kidd had settled all the necessary furniture for Luffy's room—bed frame, mattress, wardrobe and a study table for children. All of the above were delivered to the apartment before the duo head out for the next shopping session. Last night, the mechanic had listed out all the tasks that needed to be performed on a piece of paper, just in case if one or two accidentally slipped out his mind. So as for task number two…

Clothes.

Under the task number two, Kidd even pointed all the type of clothing they were going to purchase.

"C'mon. We're going in here first." Kidd said, his rough fingers tugging the small wrist as they entered the shop. In fact, the man had been holding his hand for a while now, ever since they reached the shop buildings. It was Sunday, so it was no wonder the streets hustled and bustled with life. People walked passed by like a passing stream, food vendors yelling to attract customers, pet dogs barking, etc. The boy was small, Kidd didn't want him to get missing. Not under his care, at least.

At first when his fingers touched his brother's skin, Luffy went eerie still but didn't recoil. From what Conis had educated him yesterday, a person with **avoidant personality disorder (AvPD)** will try to avoid any form of physical contact as it may trigger unpleasant or painful stimulus.

That's why the redhead held his hand as gently as he could, which was rather challenging for a rough guy like him. Years of working in a car mechanic shop didn't help his situation when the person he was holding was like a porcelain doll.

Fragile. Almost like a hollow and empty shell.

But as time passed, the rigid limb beneath his palm seemed a hair relaxed. They wondered around the store a bit, until their destination was on sight which would be the children's section. Racks of different clothes filled the spacious area and Kidd didn't know where to start.

Neither was Luffy, Kidd thought.

The nearest would be T-shirts racks with different designs and colors all neatly stacked. From stripped pocket T-shirt, V-neck pocket and crewneck. Then there's hoodies department, Polo, sweaters, shirts and the list went on. Kidd didn't know there were so many clothes specialized for children.

How refreashing.

"Anything you like?" Kidd asked his brother whose mind was nowhere to be found. Normal children by now would be scuttling here and there, pointing this and that if brought to a clothes store. But the one with him right now… was different.

In respond, Luffy darted his eyes around and strained his neck a bit due to his height. But similar as yesterday, those dark orbs didn't linger anywhere in specific.

Guess it was up to Kidd again this time. The issue was, the man wasn't sure which one of these hundreds piece of clothing would appear nice on Luffy and what size that fit him.

"Good afternoon, sir. Can I help you?" A young bubbly female with shoulder length hair greeted him. The sudden out of nowhere appearance almost startled the redhead.

"Yeah, uh…" Kidd started. A second opinion won't hurt, will it? "It's for him actually… but I'm not sure which of these suits him."

As he spoke, the mechanic gestured the much smaller boy. Luffy didn't seem faze by the shop helper. In fact, Kidd was almost sure nothing could faze him right now. Almost, except that the redhead could sense the pulse on the boy's wrist quickened, contradicting the coldness in his eyes.

So other unknown people could trigger anxiety. Kidd needed to keep that in mind.

"Oh, in that case," The female with the name tag 'Camie' grabbed an orange graphic T's with the illustration of a sunglasses wearing alligator slouching on the beach while drinking a juice. "How about this one?"

She hold it out for Kidd to have a better look while her left hand snatched another blue and white, stripped T's. "I think blue and orange will look good on him. They are suitable colors for a shy people."

Kidd looked at the clothes in his hand while making a tentative thinking. Last night, he spent hours reading the psychological book Conis had provided him. Everything that was helpful for Luffy's condition. In the chapter of 'Psychological Properties of Color's', it stated that blue and orange are the soothing color for mind. Soft blue will calm the mind and aid concentration. So basically the sky color is serene and mentally calming. As for orange, it focuses mind on issue of physical comfort—food, warmth, security, etc. In addition, it was a fun color.

This woman was smart. Kidd wondered if she's studying psychology.

Along the way, Kidd picked another two. The shark polo and blue checked jacket—it was rather windy lately, so Luffy definitely needed this.

As for pants…

"And he needs pants too." The redhead informed the shop helper.

"I know exactly what would suit him!" She chirped in a jolly mood. It was a nice feeling to know she could be helpful to the customer. Scurrying to the pants rack, it took approximately three minutes for her to come back, pants in both hands as Kidd waited at the exact spot.

Camie held them up. Left hand with checkers pattern canyon cargo shorts and right hand with dark blue cuffed cargo pants. "I don't know if he prefers shorts or long pants, so I brought both. And I think size six fits him the best."

Damn this girl was good, Kidd gave the credit.

"It's okay. I'll take both. Where's the fitting room?"

"Walk straight and turn left." The girl pointed the direction. "I'll be right here if you need any more help."

"Thanks."

Piling all the clothes on his left forearm, Kidd called out for his brother. "Let's try this on."

Kidd guided Luffy into the cubicles and gave the first two clothes articles—the orange graphic T-shirt and the shorts. "Try this first. Show me when you're done. I'll wait outside."

Bewildered, the small hands clutched the outfits and stared at them. Was it acceptable to put on these clothes although they haven't been paid? Never in his life experienced such thing event since he barely left his house except for school, let alone to shops and such. There was a clear order for that and stepping outside would be considered as a wicked act. Cruel punishments were the only option to discipline a child like him and getting locked inside the murky closet would be the appropriate choice.

In front of him, the boy didn't make any movement after receiving the clothes, not even a flinch. Luffy only stared at them as though they were foreign objects.

"Go on, Luffy." Kidd encouraged his brother. At the same time, the man wondered what the child had in mind enough to make him dwelled like that.

The said boy bated his eyes lid, only for once before he spun on his heels and entered the fitting room.

As Kidd leaned against the wall, he listened to the shuffling sound of fabric and pulled out his to-do-list from his back pockets. He verified the tasks that were done and let a soft sighed escaped his slightly parted lips.

It was going to be a very long day indeed.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

It was late evening that the brothers finally returned to the apartment with dozens of carrier bags. They managed to acquire a decent wardrobe for the younger that caused a chunk of Kidd's saving. Every time they went to different store, Kidd was very patient and asked if anything catches the boy's eyes. But as anticipated, the only respond was a blank stare that indicated nothing. He must be the biggest liar if he wasn't at least a tad frustrated, but in every second, Kidd reminded himself that Luffy's rehabilitation period required lots, and lots of tolerance and time.

Although children with AvPD can improve social awareness and skills, but with deep seated feeling of inferiority and significant social fear, the patterns don't change dramatically. Kidd needed to remind himself that.

When the couch was within his reach, the redhead fought the urge to throw himself in be oblivious to the world. Instead, he placed all the bought items on the floor next to coffee table and slouched into the sofa. Kidd let his head to lean backward and shut his eyes, mind free from everything. After five minutes or so, the mechanic finally cracked open his eyes and saw Luffy too was sitting down on the single seated sofa, legs dangling but didn't touch the floor. Seemed like his brother was tired himself from all those walking.

Kidd reluctantly pushed his body from the comfortable cushion and leaned forward. Pale hand rummage into one of the bag only to pull out a bath towel and extended his limb towards Luffy.

"Here, take a shower. I'll go and set your bed."

Wordlessly, the boy grasped the fluffy fabric and stood up. His was somewhat toddling, Kidd noticed that, as the younger made his ways to the bathroom. A few more minutes of rest before the mechanic pulled himself up, bags in both his hands. He headed towards the used to be an empty room. Now, it wasn't vacant anymore. This was going to be his brother's room.

Kidd plopped all shopping bags near the wardrobe and decided he would organize them tomorrow. For now, the bed needed to be made.

From the bag, Kidd fished out the bedding set—Comforter, fitted sheet, top sheet and pillowcase. The set combines solids and stripes in a quilted pattern with embroidered appliqués of helm wheels, anchors, boats and lighthouses. It uses the color of chambray blue, navy, white, red and yellow. Kidd sort of enjoyed the idea of the illustration when he first bought it.

Luffy sailing in a small boat while surrounded by baby whales. The somewhat cute mental image pulled the corner of his lips into a tiny smile.

Some people might point out that his choice of bedding set was fairly childish. But then again, Luffy **IS** a child. Kidd wanted him to feel like a child. A child that tells when he's bored, picks his own clothes, laughs when something is funny and asks childish questions. The man wanted Luffy to be the child that full of life. Not some inanimate object.

This would be the starting line.

Spreading the fitted sheet, Kidd was ready to make the bed. Then he paused, hands still in air with the sheet clutched between his fingers.

There was something else in his mind that the mechanic would like to try.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Now fully dressed in his newly bought pajama—a white top with a bright blue dinosaur on the front, matched with white and brown stripped bottom, Luffy looked at his brother who was now holding the bed sheet.

Kidd beckoned him to move closer and he inched towards him.

"Let's make your bed together alright?" The man handed Luffy the other edge of the sheet.

One of the treatments for those diagnosed with AvPD is to encourage them to participate in as many as social activities as can be tolerated. The book also testified that the patients sometimes enjoys if they have specific job or role to play. Since conversation was off-limit at the moment, involving Luffy in what seemed like a simple activity might be able to connect to him somehow even for the tinniest.

This was much better than waiting for miracles to happen.

Luffy took the hold of the edge in which there was an elastic running around it for it to be kept closer to the mattress.

"Pull the corner of the sheet to the corner of the mattress…" The man instructed, while his hands mimicking his own instruction. He looked over and saw Luffy was copying him for the bottom part of the bed.

"… and tuck the edge between the mattress and the box spring."

When Kidd noted that his brother was having difficulty with the tucking process since the mattress was slightly heavy, he gripped the bottom side of it and lifted it off, enough for Luffy to slip in his tiny hands and tucked in the sheet. Done that, they moved to the other side of the mattress and repeated the procedure.

Next would be the top sheet. For the bottom edge, the process would be similar to making hospital corners. But since this would be a little bit tricky, Kidd needed Luffy to watch and learn it first handedly.

Kidd called for him. "Come closer, Luffy."

Luffy padded to where Kidd was. Once he was close enough to see his brother's hands, the boy impersonated his pose—kneeling down in front of the edge of the mattress. He rested his palms over his knees to see whatever Kidd wanted to show him.

"Watch my hands closely how it's done, then you can do your part." Kidd waited for few seconds. When he was confident that Luffy attention was on his hands, the redhead began to explain.

With the tip of his first three fingers, Kidd picked up the extra length of the side edge at the bottom corner. "Take this extra bit and hold it out…"

"…Then tuck in…" The redhead slipped in his fingers and tucked in what is hanging down at the corner.

"And do the same for this one…" He let the edge to fall and tucked it in as well.

Satisfied with his own work, Kidd smoothed out any wrinkles and turned to Luffy. "Your turn."

Instead of walking back to the other edge the bed, Luffy crawled on his hands and knees to get there. For the man, the actions was comical and childlike, he had to bite his lower lips from chuckling.

Reversing their earlier position, it was now Kidd's turn to watch over his brother's work as he sat on the floor. The small fingers worked in a steady pace, almost in a delicate way.

Hold the extra bit, tucked this one here and tucked that one.

In less than a minute, Luffy finished his own corner. No wrinkles, no extra bit left out. It was perfect.

Immediately, Kidd made an early hypothesis that the child was a fast learner.

The other side was done with the same manner before they proceed with setting out the comforter.

They spread out the sailor-like printed comforter evenly over the bed. Although Luffy was supposed to be in the bed right after this, Kidd still wanted to make the bed neatly. Just for formality per say. So he asked Luffy to run his hands through the middle to remove any wrinkles or creases.

"Here, the pillowcase." The mechanic handed the pillow cover in which Luffy took it and put it on the down filled pillow. Before placing it on top of the bed, Kidd fluffed it gently.

"Good job, Luffy." Kidd said as he examined their handiwork.

Rubbing the back of his neck, the man stared at the floor, thinking. "For tomorrow, you can rest up since I think both of us will need it. We'll settle for your school the day after tomorrow. Sounds okay?"

The simple dipped of the boy's head indicated he agreed with his brother suggestion.

"Have you brush your teeth?"

Luffy's bobbed his head. "Uhuh."

"Now off to bed."

Without second thinking, Luffy slid under the cover and the mattress barely creaked under his weight.

Just how much did he weigh?

Unanswered, Kidd pulled the comforter over the boy while murmuring 'G'night' before he turned and left the dark room. Twelve hours of sleep was definitely needed to be free from his fatigue. With only less than two hours rest from last night, it only aggravated his condition.

The second his body landed on his own bedding, Kidd moaned in relief. It was a wise idea after all to take four days leave from work. Still, he had a nasty feeling someone might be interrogating him later on.

That can wait. For now, sleep was all that mattered.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Darkness had swallowed up the entire room for a few minute and Luffy shifted his body so he was lying on his side. Front body facing the closed door, the boy stared at where Kidd was last seen before the man exited the room. Then, he curled himself into fetal position—back curved, head bowed and limbs bent and drawn up to the torso. It was an instinctual reaction; the boy felt that was the safest posture.

In that position, only the top strands poked out of the cover and his face hidden under the fluffy fabric. Luffy shut his eyes in attempt to fall asleep.

Few minutes had passed before the brown eyes slowly flickered open. Something was suddenly evoked in his mind.

'_**Good job, Luffy.'**_

Kidd had complimented him.

Nobody has done that before.

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N: Gosh, I'm not sure why I'm too excited with this story that I can't stop typing. And dude! I haven't start doing anything for final year project! Oh well, whatever.*slurping on coconut juice* I'm guessing that it has something to do with NON-M rating here. Since for moi, the most difficult part (and the laziest) would be the smut. Anyone agree?**


	3. Who would know?

**Chapter 3: Who Would Know?**

**Genre: Family/Hurt/Comfort (There is a slight humorish part in this chapter) **

**A/N: Since I usually wrote a humor-based story, I couldn't help but include some for this chapter. And the hot weather in my country lately is making me dizzy and wacky.**

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**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**The Essential Guide to Overcoming Avoidant Personality Disorder.**

That was the title of the book that rested on Kidd's lap. With a pair of studded, square goggles placed firmly on his forehead, his crimson eyes scanned the words-only printed pages. His brain struggled to comprehend everything that the book tried to deliver while his painted fingernails tapped against the armrest.

Tap. Tap. Tap. It was the rhythm of irritation.

This began to annoy the hell out the mechanic. Why can't the author include some pictures so the book could be more readable?

Kidd gave out a tired sigh and leaned forward only to fetch for the half drink cola from the coffee table. To be honest, he would rather have gin and tonic or maybe even beer right now, just to sooth his nerve. But he was still at work, so alcohol would be an absolute no-no if he doesn't want to lose a finger or two when handling the machineries.

After chugging down the rest of the content, the redhead placed the empty can back on the table and continued his reading. It was lunch break; yet, Kidd made use of the time reading psychological book inside the waiting room with just a can of soft drink and a simple tuna salad sandwich.

Around one week had passed since Luffy's enrollment to his new school. Dubious of his own decision, Kidd had consulted the psychiatrist recommended by the CPS agent. In fact, she was the very same person who diagnosed Luffy with the disorder while he was under the agency care.

During the consultation hour, the therapist called Dr. Harpy Monet [1] informed the redhead that although Luffy's condition can be considered as serious, at the same time, it wasn't extreme to the point of agoraphobia [2]. From her observation on Luffy, the boy didn't experience any panic attack when exposed to public and crowds. He didn't need to be prescribed with medication as Luffy didn't suffer from acute Axis I [3] and with the fact that he was still a child, the consumption of antidepressant would be too risky.

To make her point, she said that his brother situation is curable and requires immediate actions before the condition tunes into something more severe.

As for his school enrollment, Dr. Monet had guaranteed that Kidd made a wise decision. In some cases, family member may become overprotective with the intent of being helpful by secluding the patients from social. They fear that the patient might suffer a panic attack when in contact with other people. Instead, the family member which in this case would be Kidd actually needs to encourage Luffy to involve in social situation while giving emotional support. So school was a good starting line.

Just for precaution, Kidd had notified the class teacher regarding Luffy's condition and to immediately contact him if anything is up. Until now, nothing unusual has occurred. At least, in his opinion there wasn't any.

The same went to his brother.

His eyes were still void of emotion and he never complained or asked about anything. Almost all the time, his brother was organized and neat. Everything was done in a perfect manner. From making his own bed at morning, washing his used dishes after every meal and doing his homework without even being told.

As for personal entertainment, Luffy would only be in front of the television when Kidd nudged him to watch the late evening cartoon show. Aside from that, the man would find his brother inside his bedroom, sitting on his bed while having a one-sided staring contest with the floor. Sometimes, the child would stand at the balcony and gazed at the sky for hours.

This one was really a hard egg to crack. There was a solid wall built around Luffy and it was as high as ever. Well, if it's too high, Kidd just needed to find a hole for him to infiltrate in. Every wall, no matter how tough the materials were, there must be at least a tiny crack and it was up to him to search for it.

Kidd looked over to the clock hanging on the wall. Few more hours until the school are out and for him to pick up Luffy. And he also needed to make a stop at the book store to buy a simple recipe book. He can't feed the boy everyday with takeouts, mac cheese and PB&J can he?

With that as a mental note for the day, Kidd proceeded to his reading. His eyes fall under the subtopic of 'Memory'.

"…Since people with APD are consistently tense and anxious and exposed to emotion-eliciting situations but may exhibit little affect due to the fear that showing their emotions will make them vulnerable to rejection or humiliation it is likely that emotion-expressive suppression is an almost constant feature. "

Kidd jumped involuntarily at the narrating voice next to his ear.

"Fuck!" The redhead cursed as his knee hit the edge of the table. The book dropped from his laps and landed on the floor with a soft thud.

Twisting his body around, Kidd scowled at the 'narrator' who was leaning down against the sofa. "Killer, what the hell? Don't you people know how to knock anymore?"

As the blonde made his way towards the cabinet, he let the amusement chuckle to escape from his mouth. "Nope. Don't have mommy and daddy to teach me how to knock."

The smart-ass answer only irritated the redhead more.

Soda crackers in his hand, the fellow mechanic plopped down on the opposite couch and tore open the packaging. "What's up with the book?" He eyed the book in Kidd's hand as the man retrieved it back from the floor.

Kidd shrugged. "Just some random book I picked from the store."

The ridiculous come back made Killer to snort unintelligently. "Yeah, right."

"What?" The pale skin man huffed at his cracker munching friend. Sometimes he wondered if there's a minute where the blonde wasn't seen snacking.

"Kidd, people pick porn, gossip magazine, and sappy love novel to be their random books. Not a psychological book. At least not for you."

"What would you know about my reading habit?" Kidd smoothed out the pages only to close the book and placed it next to him.

Stifling a snicker, the blonde bit the corner of the cracker and nibbled it down. "How long do you I've known you, huh? A year? C'mon Kidd, I've known you since we were snotty brats who still threw each other dirt. I would be the crappiest friend if I can't even tell what type of books you usually read."

This was one of the main problems when you'd been acquaintance with someone since you were ten. They are very knowledgeable about you like a damn oracle.

"No, Kill. You didn't throw dirt at me. You used rocks."

"Dirt, pebbles, rocks… what's the difference?" Killer replied nonchalantly. Then paused. "Really, what happened?"

There was a moment of silent inside the room.

With the lack of reply, Killer continued. "Does it have anything to do with the phone call that day?"

The man before him only bit his lower lip before nodding slightly. "Yeah. You could say that."

"Want to tell me?"

A long pause. Kidd has faith in his blond friend, he really does. However, he wasn't ready to break the news about his newly discovered brother, especially when Luffy was dealing with psychological disorder. Perhaps, the term 'doesn't know how' might be more fitting.

"Not now." Kidd looked hesitant.

"But you will tell me… right?" The voice was laced with hope.

"Of course." There was no hesitancy in that answer.

In order to escape the blonde scrutinizing gaze, Kidd quickly stood up and stride towards the exit—left hand holding the book, right hand with the empty can.

"Later." And the door closed behind him.

His fingers fiddled the last piece of cracker as Killer mulled over of what had caused Kidd to behave like that. Knowing the man for more than a decade, it wouldn't be some trivial matter. The last time the blond had seen him on edge was when his dad passed away.

The sudden pour of memory brought his mind way back from when they had first met. It was cataclysmic to say. Killers suppose it was inevitable for things to happen that way, like a clash between alien and predator. After all, he was the talk-to-my-fist kid, who was raised in an orphanage while Kidd was the new transfer student with red, flaming hair and a 'stare-at-me-and-I'll-kick-your-ass' look.

On that very first day they met on the playground, Kidd had bumped into him (he wasn't sure who bumped who first). They barked at each other first, demanding an apology and the next thing Killer knew, they were already on the ground, throwing kicks and punches. By the time the playground supervisor walked over to see what the commotion was, his nose was bleeding while Kidd was swearing up a storm and rubbing at his rapidly swelling eye.

They ended up standing in front of the principal office later that day. While waiting, his redhead nemesis suddenly turned to him and said something that he didn't expect.

"Not bad. You know… your kick and punch is quite good."

Killer could only stare at him like Kidd was some kind of foreign object.

"Yeah, you too."

Before they knew it, they were snickering although he had to clutch at his bleeding nose.

And that was the beginning. Friendship for life.

Ever since that, they stick close to each other and for every weekend, the lady from the orphanage gave him the permission to stay over at Kidd's house. That was the very place that thought him the feeling of having a father.

Kidd's old man was just like your normal, everyday accountant. Nothing unique about him. Average height, average look with the warm smile to die for, one of the brightest he had ever seen. Of course, the man had laughed his ass of when he first learned his name. In any case, his deceased parents named him Killer, a total pun-like name. Even now, he was still working on forgiving them although they were long gone.

All in one, Mr. Eustass was a kind man and a doting father. He behaved towards him and Kidd indiscriminately. Heck, he even whacked him together with Kidd when they made a mess in the redhead's room. Once in a while, the man would ask regarding his school performance and congratulated him if he did well, much to his joy. The best part was, whenever Mr. Eustass returned home with gift, the man would bring two—one for Kidd and another for him.

Not much he could tell about Mss. Eustass since she was always seen going out everytime he paid a visit. Then again, his most vivid memory of her would be the day when she ditched the house, leaving behind her family for good. Killer was there of course. It was Saturday afternoon and they were reading comics in Kidd's room when they heard a commotion in the living room.

Curious, they silently crept out from the room and peaked down from the first floor hallway only to find Mss. Eustass stormed into the room that Kidd's parents was sharing while hollering in foul language. Kidd's old man didn't stop her as he stood helplessly in the living room, messaging his temple.

She didn't stay long in the room before she emerged back with a big, rolled on luggage. Without a backward glance, she left the household.

Eustass household went gloomy for quite some time. Was it a month? Or two? He couldn't recall. As much as the blond wanted to murmur comforting words to Kidd, he couldn't. With him being parentless for so long, he didn't know how to comfort other whose mum had ditched the house. Later, Kidd told him that apparently his mum ran off with some guy that has tattoos and pierced nipples who lives in a trailer.

Up until now, he still couldn't get the reason behind her decision to leave her family for some shady looking guy.

Even when Kidd's old man was distraught over his wife disappearance; the man was never ignorance of his son's welfare. And he still welcomed the blond like he used to.

Mr. Eustass was a strong man and both he and Kidd looked up on him.

So when the man passed away four years ago due to pancreatic cancer, Kidd was devastated. So was Killer. For the first two months after his father's death, Kidd wasn't being himself. Tensed, with of a lot spacing and getting distracted.

Just like what he has been doing lately after he received the phone call.

The question is, just what sort of news that Kidd had received enough to throw him into such state?

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The bell had rung five minutes ago by the time Kidd arrived at the elementary school. In instant, his eyes focused on the spot where Luffy was supposed to be waiting just in case he was late. Like today for example. It was pretty problematic to search for 3'8" boy when there were hundreds of children scampering all over the school ground in order to reach for their respective parents. Not even twenty seconds had passed and the man finally located the subject of his search.

Just by the school gate, Luffy was standing there with his bag pack. His face didn't indicate like he was waiting for someone, like he wasn't anticipating anything at all. And everytime he did that, Kidd felt a pin pricked pain in his heart.

Kidd walked over to the boy and Luffy acknowledge his upcoming presence by looking up at the towering man.

Without a word, the mechanic took the school bag off his brother's back and hoisted it on his shoulder. They left the school compound in silent and Kidd made sure to walk in small steps so Luffy could match his pace. Last time when he strolled with his usual steps, Luffy was practically wheezing though the boy didn't ask him to slow down his pace.

"How's school?" The same question as yesterday.

A pause. "Normal." And the same answer as yesterday.

And that was that. The same, small conversation like yesterday, the day before and the day before that. Kidd would ask his brother a question in which Luffy would answer it in a way that the redhead couldn't think of any reply for that. Then, S-I-L-E-N-C-E. So much silence it felt awkward. The man could hear his heart beating, the bird chirped from a distance and he couldn't tell which was which anymore.

Sure enough the mechanic had tried making small talk on safe and somewhat superficial subjects—the weather, favorite food, last night cartoon and cats. But the reactions were indifferent throughout the entire conversation which would be the simple 'uhn' or the blank stare.

All of sudden, there was a faint sound of thunder rumbling. Kidd looked up and the scenery made his mood turned to sour. The sky was dark and the thick clouds were clustering above their head, looking obnoxiously heavy.

"We better hurry before it—"

Then it arrived. Merciless and without warning.

"—Rains…"

Drip by boring drip, the water fell from the sky and met the ground with a calming noise. For his case, the blasted tears of angels landed on his face, dampening his hair. Kidd could only snarl at the sky with great disdain.

"Walk faster." Taking the small wrist into his hand, the redhead urged Luffy to speed up his short legs. It didn't make much difference though and Kidd fought the impulse to just hoist his brother up and ran for it. But that could startle Luffy so Kidd shoved the idea away.

By the time they reached the apartment, both of them were damp from chests and above. It wasn't a heavy downpour, and Kidd was thankful for that. Nonetheless, the coolness from the rain didn't fail to make their body temperature to drop down rapidly, especially for the eight year old Luffy.

"Take off your shirt, Luffy. I'll bring towels." The tall man instructed his brother who was standing in the hallway. Although he didn't make any remark regarding the lack of warmth, Kidd noticed the small frame was quaking slightly.

Moment later, the shirtless Kidd emerged back from the laundry room with dry towels. To his utter horror, there on the very exact spot where he was left, Luffy was having an intense battle with his shark polo T's. The shirt was covering his face as it got stuck along his left shoulder blade and right side of his chest. Muffled grunts were heard underneath the fabric as his brother flailing in circle.

"What the—" Fear that the battle might lead to something more dramatic; Kidd rushed towards Luffy's side.

"Luffy, calm down." At hearing Kidd's voice, Luffy stopped the flail but his limbs were still twisting.

"Don't move too much. Just let me…" Kidd took the shirt's hem and tugged it up. Once the top went pass the head, Luffy gasped for air. His right hand was still inside the T's half sleeve, but when the older male tried to yank the garment completely off from upper body, Luffy lost his footing. As a result, the boy tripped and tumbled backward, accidently bringing Kidd with him. Lucky enough, the man managed to regain his foothold and ended up kneeling on the floor but unfortunately, not for his brother. Luffy fall completely and landed on his back with a small squeak.

Just when Kidd was about to pull Luffy back to his feet, his ears picked up the sound of multiple gasps in which he was certain those didn't come from the boy. For some reason, it seemed to be coming from his back.

So Kidd turned his head almost to 180° in order have a better view only to meet four sets of open stare that belonged to uninvited intruders.

Behind him, the intruders just stood there in the living room with gaping mouths. Then again, they weren't what you would consider as intruders since Kidd know these people well enough—his blond friend namely Killer, his co-worker namely Boney, his boss namely Absalom, and the Spider Café's owner namely Paula.

As if their sudden appearance inside his apartment wasn't strange enough, now added with their horrified expression as though they were witnessing him hacking a mutilated body with a saw, the situation couldn't get any odder. Killer was the only one who wore a different expression. The blonde's face settled into hard plane and his eyes narrowed into slit.

Why the hell are they looking at him like—

Faster than lightning, Kidd snapped his head back towards where his brother had landed and analyzed.

1) Luffy was lying on his back, puffing and half naked

2) So was he

3) He was still clutching the boy's shirt

4) And he was kneeling over Luffy

Kidd was on hiatus for a very long moment. Surely this doesn't look like what he thinks it is… But from their reactions, the answer would be a big yes-yes.

When the redhead looked back, those three were still with their horror-truck expression and as for Killer… The blonde finally opened his mouth to crush the awkward silent, and when he spoke, his voice cracked in anger.

"EUSTASS KIDD. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING TO THAT BOY?"

It almost made his heart stopped in terror just by hearing the menace-filled speech. It took a long, precious second before his brain untangled the competing thoughts so the redhead could speak.

"Wait." Kidd began. "It's not what—"

Too late. The fist came before Kidd could declare his innocence and he sure felt the explosion as it connected with his cheekbone just below his eye.

It was indeed a fierce punch that was capable to send a 6'4" grown man lying sprawled on the floor.

**XxXxXxXxXx ****20 MINUTES LATER**** XxXxXxXx**

"So…" Killer drawled. All of them were seated on the couch, apart from Boney who was pretty occupied in the kitchen. "…Your kid brother, huh."

Painted nails jabbed into the cold, gel pack in annoyance. Further pressure, the plastic might just burst and spill the gel inside.

Kidd gave an irritated huff. "Yes, Killer! He's my brother! That's what I tried to tell you before you gave me your big, ol' mighty punch!"

Seeing his fuming friend, the blond decided to stay silent for now.

"And you just have to use you RIGHT HOOK!" The redhead re-pressed the cold pack over his bruised cheek. "Dammit. I can't believe you guys almost accused me of being a pedophile! Didn't we all agree that anything pervert-ish can only be related to Perv-Salom?"

"Hey now!" His boss that is to say, the owner of the mechanic shop Kidd was working at, yelled at them indignantly.

"We—don't blame me!" Killer defended himself. "With that sudden leave from work, you sneaking away from the garage for every evening like a cat burglar, and—and with all that spacing and sighing, how the hell would I know that you're actually hiding your secret brother here?"

Shoulders slumped, Kidd sighed. "I WAS going to tell you, you know. I just didn't know how."

"All in the past…" Boney said with a mouthful of peanut butter sandwich that she had just made and sat on the arm rest next to Kidd. "At least now we know it, right Red?"

Kidd scoffed at the nickname.

She continued after taking a large bite from her sandwich. "I hope your little life and death brawl didn't scare him though."

"How old is he?" Absalom, nicknamed Perv-Salom piped in.

"Eight."

His boss frowned in disbelief. "Eight? He looks six to me!"

There was a dry laugh for a respond. "That's what I thought at first."

When the focus of their topic emerged from the bathroom, all the adults halted the conversation and took a glance at the boy. Upon seeing the unfamiliar grownups gathering in the living room, Luffy himself went dead on his track and offered his usual impassive look.

But underneath, Kidd knew his brother was anxious on the inside judging by his tense posture and they way the small fingers tightened around the towel on his shoulder.

"Aww, he's cute. Good thing he doesn't look as menacing as you, Kidd." Boney laughed with her usual, contagious laughter.

If she wasn't born as woman, the redhead would shower her with punches by now.

"Come here little guy… Give the big sister a big hug." His co-worker cooed at the pajama wearing child.

Except to Kidd, the respond given by his brother was a shocker. Luffy looked like as if Boney had just kicked him in the gut and was going to do it again. And again. But soon enough, the poker face was back and the child still remained motionless as though he was waiting for any instruction.

This really needs to stop soon, Kidd sighed inwardly. The 'do-only-when-told' activities.

"You have homework today?" The redhead questioned his brother to distract him.

Luffy nodded.

"Why don't you do them first? I'll call when the dinner's ready."

Another nod and the child padded along the hallway before he vanished into his own room.

The moment they heard the soft click of the shutting door, Boney gasped. "He hates me, right?"

Oh, that's right. He hasn't told them yet about their abusive mother and Luffy's condition story.

"No, it's not that." Kidd waved her off as he tossed the used cold pack on the coffee table. "He—Luffy went through a lot of shit."

"Ohh…" Her face immediately fell into somewhat understanding. So were the others. "What happened?"

A pause. "Let's just say our mother wasn't the same type with those in the family soap opera that bakes pies and read stories for their children."

"Domestic abuse…" The person behind him spoke. Mug in her left hand, Paula handed the steaming coffee to Kidd and the man murmured his thanks. "It's a common story nowadays. How bad is it?"

Sipping the dark liquid, Kidd relished the feeling of introducing caffeine into his system. "Bad enough to cause a psychological disorder on an eight year old kid."

"That bad huh." The café owner took a seat next to Killer, her voice was all sympathy.

Absalom made a tentative thinking. "Have you considered a child therapist?"

Pale fingers traced the rim of the mug at hearing his boss's consideration. "I did." Another sip. "But for now, I'm going to see how much I can do before anything else."

"Is there anything we can do?" The man asked again. Despite the emotionless look, he could see it through the kid's eyes. A tormented little boy in deep pain. He felt a twinge of anger towards the person behind, the origin of those sorrows. Even though the person was already deceased and in fact, was Kidd's and the boy's mother.

"Not what I can think of at the moment. But thanks anyway."

There was another thundering sound, indication the soon-to-be storm. That was the cue for them to leave the place. Besides, now that they know Luffy's situation, they fear their presence as strangers might intimidate the boy.

"I think we should leave now. It's going to get stormy." Paula suggested.

Hoping from the couch, Boney gave Kidd's head a small pat. "Later Red. Hug your brother for me, 'kay?"

"Get out, you gluttonous woman and leave me in peace." Annoyed, the said man murmured into his half drink coffee as he watched them striding towards the front door.

"You guys go ahead." Killer said to the trio. "I'm going to stay here for a lil' longer."

Unfazed with the blond decision, Kidd didn't make any further comment as he watched the retreating back of his colleagues. Once the front door slammed shut, the man set his mug on the table, deep in his own thought.

"Do you think the kid is going to be okay?" Killer stared at his distracted friend.

Uncertain on how to answer it, Kidd's eyes slid away from Killer to the window. It started to rain heavily. The water trickled and tap on the glass window in a calming and soothing rhythm. Almost like a natural lullaby that made the redhead sleepy.

"I honestly don't know." He finally answered after the long pregnant silent. "He wouldn't talk, he wouldn't smile or get angry or sulk, he wouldn't do anything unless asked, and you saw his expression… He's just like a…"

Kidd let out a deep sigh before continued. "A doll that eats and sleeps."

"Don't say that." On the contrary of what he had just said, Killer couldn't help but to feel the same as the redhead. "The kid went through a lot of stuff. He needs time and helps. So the book is for him?"

"Yeah. You know… He hasn't called my name." Kidd gave a halfhearted laugh.

"Eight years. That's a long time, Kidd. You can't expect him to be healed and run around and do public speaking in a couple of weeks."

Rubbing his face, the redhead almost jumped at the sudden noise of sky roaring. "I know that. But there's nothing wrong with hoping for miracles, right?"

The blonde only chuckled and stretched languidly, his toes digging into the rug.

"Shit, I almost forgot." Without warning, Kidd cussed when he saw the time. "Need to make dinner. You staying or what?"

Eyes concern, the blond hesitated. "You think that's a good idea having someone he doesn't know in the house? With him like that…"

"Actually it's the opposite. I need to get him exposed to people, gradually of course. Keeping him away from others won't make his condition any better. At least I can get him to know that you're harmless."

Somehow, Kidd almost snorted at his own statement. A harmless Killer. Now that's a very good pun.

"Cool. Guess I'm going to be the second person who'll get to know the kid. And… I get to taste Eustass Kidd's handmade meal." Killer flashed a smirk as he slouched further into the sofa like a lazy cat. "And seeing Luffy is still alive up until now after eating whatever slug monster you're making, so I'm sure I'll be safe."

As a retort, Killer received a mouthful of toss pillow before his redhead nemesis quickly made his escape to the kitchen.

While fluffing the pillow on his laps, the blond paid no attention to the faint grumbling sound that came from the kitchen. Instead he focused on closed door that belonged to Kidd's little brother.

There was a quote saying that time will heal the pain. But Killer disagreed. For him, time doesn't heal; it only numbs the intense pain a bit. In his book, sorrows and wounds are healed only when they are touched with compassion and it's impossible to be done in loneliness [4].

In Killer's opinion, Little Luffy needed to know there are others who wanted to embrace those scars and wounds together with him.

Someone like his brother.

**-To be Continued- **

**A/N: Everytime I finish writing a chapter, I would be smiling like a retard *with the door closed of course*. And ooh, some people might be wondering why Killer is always seen with a snack. Well, it's simple. Surprising, Killer is one of my favorite OP character and since I'm a snack-addict myself *munching multiple choco mint at once* I just want to relate that habit to him. .**

**[1] For some reason, I love Monet. By far, she's my favorite female villain since she's pretty and super intelligent.**

**[2] Agoraphobia is a condition where the sufferer becomes anxious in environments that are unfamiliar or where he or she perceives that they have little control. Triggers for this anxiety may include wide open spaces, crowds (social anxiety), or traveling (even short distances).**

**Agoraphobia is often, but not always, compounded by a fear of social embarrassment, as the agoraphobic fears the onset of a panic attack and appearing distraught in public.**

**[3] This is the top-level of the DSM multiaxial system of diagnosis. It represents acute symptoms that need treatment; Axis I diagnoses are the most familiar and widely recognized (e.g., major depressive episode, schizophrenic episode, panic attack).**

**[4] Its a quote by Buddha. Just want to give the credit.**


	4. Colorless Life

**Chapter 4: Colorless Life**

**A/N: Another short drabble without plot. This chapter is based solely on Luffy's P.O.V.**

* * *

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Dark orbs stared at the picture frame before him for a good two minutes. It used the rugged earthy color that symbolize natural landscape—barnyard red with a rustic red finish.

The small voice inside the boy spoke: so the man was fond of with this type of art. Warm, welcoming and elegant.

Less than five minutes ago, Kidd had to run to the nearest convenient store since they were out of milk. Given that the mechanic was too hell bent to make pancakes for today breakfast, Kidd practically sprinted in order to obtain the missing ingredient. Today was Saturday and seeing that Luffy was still in bed when he discovered the house was milk-less, he had left the note on the refrigerator saying that he would be back in less than twenty minutes top.

Another three minutes had passed and Luffy still gazing at the picture frames on the black oak end table. He crouched a bit so the inanimate objects would be on his eye level. The tip of his index finger traced along the acrylic glass that was supposed to protect the picture inside the frame.

There were three people inside the photograph—two boys around twelve or thirteen years old along with a man in late thirties. One of the boys was smiling menacingly while holding a wrench with his right hand. He wore a round goggles on his forehead and his spiky, red hair was spread out, like a lion mane.

Beside him was a boy with a curly blonde hair that covered half of his eyes. A chocolate flavored pocky dangled between lips as he stared back at the camera with a slight smirk. Although the hair obscured the top part of his head, the band aid on the forehead, just above the left eyebrow was still noticeable.

Behind the boys was a man with the same intense, red hair as the boy with the wrench. Only that the hair was slightly longer and slicked back. He looked like an older version of the boy, minus the menacing smile. Instead, the big smile he was showing appeared to be a lot warmer, the kind of smile that welcomes anyone into his beatific orbit. Both of his hands were seen circling around the boys' neck in a loving manner.

They seemed to be getting along. Like a family. Maybe they were family after all.

Luffy wondered if those with family would smile like that. The blond lady from the agency told him that Kidd was his big brother. A family. If that's the case, would he smile like those people in the picture?

Looking back, he did have a family. A mother. But little Luffy couldn't recall the time where he had smiled. Or laughed. Or felt happy. Not when his house was nothing more like a dark well that drank in everything that related to happiness, tenderness and warmth. More than once he thought about accepting other people kindness—his kindergarten teacher, the friendly neighbor that lived below them or maybe the boy that sat next to him at his previous school. But each and everytime, the fear and loneliness embraced him, firm and unyielding. Little by little, those longing feeling dissipated, sucked into the dark well.

He wasn't sure when it began. But by the time he was six, there was already a wall grew around him, high as ever to keep the rest of the world away. If those longing feeling would only guide him into sorrow and pain, then he shall block them out. No one or nothing could ever go to get him again. He still spoke when asked and did as told, but at the same time, he put a mental shield around everything that was tender in him to protect himself.

But there was a price to pay when putting up the shield. His emotions. When speak of emotions, it wasn't to imply that he wasn't capable to feel anything for he felt it all. Just like a normal human. But the wall and the mental shield weren't built only to block the world from outside but also to oppose everything from inside from breaching the wall. That everything would be his emotions, his needs, his desires. And the results were the void eyes and the impassive look and the lack of conversation skill. All was done to protect him from the rest of the world.

However, there was someone who was trying to break through his wall. And he was relentless to the core.

That person would be Kidd.

At first, he ignored the man's very presence with a hope that his brother would just give up like the others before him. Unfortunately, Kidd's level of patience towards his cold shoulders was off charts and so the man proceeded without batting an eyelid.

Kidd spent quite a chunk of his money to buy him things. From the bedroom furniture to his clothes, his shoes and even his toiletries. That was how the man managed to shook his wall a bit.

Thing was, almost everything that the man bought was to his liking. For example, his bedding. Secretly, he sort of likes the sailor-like concept that somewhat symbolized adventure and fun. Sometimes, when he was certain that Kidd wasn't looking, his hand would brush over the printed images fondly, especially the boat while fantasizing that he was sailing in it. Even when he had refused to cooperate with the redhead in deciding his own clothing and forced his brother to make the decision, Kidd's still hadn't lose his patience. It seemed that he had underestimated the strength of the man's endurance. Much to his dismay, even the clothes picked by the older male actually looked nice on him.

The overture didn't stop there. Each day Kidd would try to create a small talk with him by bringing up random topics. At first, the man looked awkward himself and it was safe to assume he had no clue how to start a conversation with an eight year old kid. But gradually, he picked up his pace and came up with a subject that normally would interest a boy at his age like,

"There's a new pirate ship model at Whitebeard's Pirate World. The ship has pirates, canons, sharks, crow's nest and everything. And you can open it up to see the inside. Want to have a look?"

Or, "Do you remember the cyborg from last night show? The one with the laser beam and all? Kind of cool, huh. Although the character seemed like a pervert to me…"

And, "It's been raining a lot lately. Maybe tomorrow we'll see the whole town submerged in sea water and there'll be weird looking sea creatures swimming around. What do you think Luffy?"

Maybe the last one was too odd to even be a conversation topic.

When the 'making a small talk' strategy was going nowhere, Kidd then opted simple activities and asked him to do it together. So far, he had been hearing from the man, "let's make the bed together", "come here and help me fold these clothes", "we'll be doing some house cleaning today" and the list went on.

Kidd wanted to connect with him using every method he could think of.

As the week went by, his brother grew more and cleverer at getting around his wall, like when he bombarded him with food. There would be heaps of food on the table regardless it was breakfast, lunch or dinner and asked him to finish it all up since the man couldn't take another bite. Kidd even emphasized that it would be bothersome to pack the leftover to be put into the fridge. Not enough with that, it was almost became an everyday after school basis to stop by at the vendor near the neighborhood park for crepes, ice creams or pretzels on their way back home. At night, a cup of hot cocoa always waited for him slightly after dinner.

And he couldn't allow himself to ignore the mouthwatering beverage. Especially when it sat there on the table, looking all warm and delicious, topped with whipped cream, cocoa powder and melted marshmallows.

He thinks Kidd wanted to fatten him up.

The food bombardment got worse when Kidd discovered the art of cooking. However, for the first two weeks he'd stayed with the man, it was a total calamity. That is to say, Kidd was a terrible cook. Apart from egg, toast and coffee, everything prepared by the redhead was totally unrecognizable. Most of them were either burnt into some kind of black entity or turned into a revolting, mushy matter that seemed caustic enough to dissolve silver cutlery.

Few times Kidd had attempted in making pasta. The result was a gooey, white blob with a scoop of red blood soup that later he learned as the pasta sauce. On that time, perhaps his eyes were playing tricks on him, but somehow he was almost certain the white blob wriggled beneath the sauce as though it was alive. But his suspicion was confirmed immediately when Kidd himself squealed at his own creation. Almost like a girl.

The dish itself appeared like something that enjoyed by those who lives on the seventh layer of hell.

In any case, Kidd learned and surprisingly, a fast leaner too. The redhead purchased piles of cooking books and video to improve his skills. Numerous times he heard clacking sounds in the kitchen early in the morning which indicated that his brother went out of his way and woke up earlier than he should so Kidd could practice making whatever he had in mind. Day by day, he noticed the amount of band aids on the man's hand increased, courtesy to the sharp knives and hot pan. There was a time that he thought that Kidd might end killing himself while in the middle of making chicken stroganoff. But Kidd hadn't perished. What's more, the quality of the foods even had improved gradually.

No more black entity. No more gooey matter. Just your everyday edible food. And in reality, he kind of enjoyed these so called homemade meals.

The same goes with some of Kidd's friends. The lanky man with a long, blond hair would drop by once in a while, bringing with him load of snacks—potato chips, cheese puffs, doughnuts, jell-o, etc. Sometimes, the snacks the blond brought had never been seen in his entire life and he couldn't help but to wonder from which underground stores the man bought them. Several times he had heard Kidd referred the blond as snack eating monster and the man only respond was to dump the junk food in front and ask him to join scoffing the lot.

Surely eating this amount of junk foods wouldn't be good for his health, will it?

Yet, he did join the man and when he did, the blond would ruffle his head or pat his shoulder with a tiny smile.

The blond was the second person to touch him after Kidd.

Then, there was this woman who worked at the Spider Café and Kidd had told him she was the café's owner. Whenever they went to the cozy looking place, the dark-blue haired woman would personally take their order and everything. She would ask if he wanted to top up his juice, or if the food was too hot and if he wanted her to pour more maple syrup for his pancakes and many more.

And she had a funny way of walking too.

The sound of familiar footfalls interrupter the boy's reverie and Luffy quickly padded back into his room. At the same moment he heard the front door being unlocked, he had already slid under the cover, pretending to be asleep. The raven-haired boy just didn't want to face the man who was trying to crack open his wall.

Up until now, he had very little kindness from people and he was used to it. But the abundant warmness and compassion from Kidd and his friends terrified him. It felt too foreign.

Luffy wonder for how long the wall could keep this people at arm-length away from him.

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N: People started asking me if there ever will be any mugiwara crew in the story. Well, to answer that question, there will be a ****NO ****since I like diversity in my characters, that is to say, I want all sort of characters to be in my stories. From Shichibukai, Yonkou, 11 Supernovas, CP9 and all those from different arc. Sine this is a major AU, the character's role obviously would be a major surprise too. You won't know whose going to be who. **


	5. The Shattered Wall

**Chapter 5: The Shattered Wall**

**A/N: I'm soooo happy when a lot of you guys reviewed the last chapter! And here I thought people would find it boring but guess I was wrong *gasping for air*. Btw, there are many rumors suggesting that fanfic are going to take down all those M-rated stories. I'm not sure how far the truth is, but still it's going to be suck if MY stories are to be taken down. Really, do you have any idea how hard to write smut and only to have them blocked?**

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**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Intrusion.

That was the only explanation on why Luffy had been living like a fugitive in their own apartment. Kidd had violated his brother's secluded world and the boy was scared shitless. It was too obvious that Luffy was avoiding him for the whole week like he was a plague or someone who's trying to maul him. Except during school, and meal times, the boy had been holed up in his room.

No more standing in the balcony and watched the sky. No more padding around the kitchen after lunch. No more sitting on the couch while waiting for dinner. To persuade him to come out from his room was like convincing a rabbit to enter a tigers den.

When walking or picking him up from school, Luffy purposely walked in a fast pace so he would be at least three steps ahead instead of next to Kidd. And the kid disregarded the fact that he was panting all the way. Many times Kidd had thought to grab his wrist and tugged him back to slow down, but the mechanic feared that Luffy might consider that as an act of violence in attempt to hurt him. So Kidd held himself.

It was the opposite effect of what Kidd had in mind. Week after week of his efforts to help his brother to overcoming illness had not only brought forth a close to zero result, the condition seemed to get even worse. Before this, it was only ignorance of his presence and tad portion of avoidance, but lately, Luffy was practically running away from him! To make the matter worse, his high-as-ever wall was gradually transforming into a closed dome, tight with security.

The attention was unmistakable. Luffy had determined to block everything, the world, the people, anything other than himself.

He was in the verge of shutting down.

Kidd had never felt so helpless in his life.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

_Knock knock_.

Without waiting for permission from his brother, Kidd pushed the partly closed door gently with his palm. Inside, Luffy was sitting on the floor while leaning against his bed, both knees brought up to his chest. Upon hearing Kidd entering his room, he looked up; the movement was slower than it used to be. Like he was hesitating.

"Come out, your drink is ready." The man murmured.

Holding the bed for support, little Luffy pulled himself up and head for the door. As he passed by, the raven-haired boy made sure to shrink himself as much as possible to create a gap between him and Kidd.

Kidd noticed the behavior.

Ignoring the man's scrutinizing gaze, Luffy made his ways towards the living room and he needed not to look back to sense Kidd's was still staring at him. The television was on, airing a documentary show about shark whales hunting some seals by an iceberg. On the coffee table, sat his usual cup of hot chocolate and sat next to it, was Kidd's latte. While taking a seat on the couch, his nose caught the whiff of vanilla from the latte.

The comforting milky warmth smell.

The cushion dipped under the man's weight as he sat next to him. In order to make a quick escape, Luffy quickly took a hold of his mug by the ear and brought it closer. The sooner his drink is finished, the sooner he could get back to his room and stay in his personal cocoon. Since Kidd was very considerate, the man always made his drink just in the right temperature so Luffy didn't have to wait or blow the surface of his hot cocoa for it to cool down.

So he didn't think twice and took a large sip.

But it appeared that today' hot cocoa was indeed too hot that the usual and Luffy's tongue had to pay the price of his impatience.

_Yeeoowwch!_ That was the phrase Luffy wanted to scream so badly at the moment. Instead, he bit his lower lip to stifle any agonizing sound from escaping and from choking on his drink, his poker faced still intact.

Too bad that little act didn't fool his brother.

Through the corner of his eyes, Kidd was aware the slight changes on Luffy's body language even for only few seconds—his body jolted, his fingers twitched, he frowned and he bit his lip.

Mug halfway from his lips, a small realization hit him.

To verify his earlier assumption, Kidd reached for his brother mug and his fingers made a quick tap on the porcelain surface.

Almost in instant, his jerked his hand back at the burning feeling. Shit! He must have forgotten to add some cold water when he prepared the drink.

Although, there was something else that troubled him more than anything.

"Luffy." He started, but the child seemed reluctant to acknowledge his own name. "Why didn't you tell me your drink was too hot?"

Another bit to the lip was Kidd's only answer.

"You burnt your tongue, didn't you?"

More silence.

Placing his latte back on table, Kidd reached for the remote only to turn off the television so his brother wouldn't have much option but to look at him. Much to his dismay, the dark orbs still fixated on the blank screen while his hand still grasping the ear of the scalding hot mug.

With a huff, the redhead snatched the mug in Luffy's hand by its rim and set it next to his own with a loud thunk. That finally got his attention although the child still refused to look him straight into his eyes.

The mechanic sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He was starting to get frustrated at Luffy's silent treatment. "You're not going to say anything even when you got hurt?"

It was futile. Luffy wouldn't budge and his wall couldn't be shaken as he remained taciturn. Fueled by the child's behavior, Kidd grabbed the boy's left upper arm and yanked it forward to bring his brother closer. A single yelp, but that was all the reaction the man received.

Kidd frowned. Then he increased the pressure in his grip. It wasn't a bone crushing pressure, but enough to make the boy feel the pain. "Does this hurt?"

On the outside, the said boy still maintaining his expressionless little game, but on the inside, he wanted to burst into tear. Not because of the throbbing sensation in his arm, but the fact that it was his brother that initiate it. Luffy was scared. He had offended the man and now he had to pay for the consequences.

What would Kidd do to him? Would he throw him into the closet and lock him up? Or shout degrading words? Or use the lit cigarette stick to punish him like mama used to?

"Luffy, I'm asking you does it hurt I do this." Kidd repeated his earlier question as he jerked the boy arm, his voice was hard. So were his eyes.

Luffy's eyes were anywhere but at him though.

Frustrated, anger and fear. Everything was mixed together. He was frustrated for he couldn't be miracle worker like what he had hoped since he couldn't do a shit to help his kid brother. The child was on the verge of shutting down and everything he did was only to make it worse. He fear for what might happened to his brother who was already important to him if Luffy continue being ignorant with his own well-being. Would he keep silent even if he steps on a piece of glass? Would he keep quiet if he cut himself?

But most of all, he was angry for Luffy was rather to let himself getting injured instead of telling him and giving out his emotion. Avoided, ignored, refusal to speak. All of the above Kidd could tolerate. However he would never accept that Luffy had just risked his own safety for the sake of preserving his unshakable wall. AvPD or no AvPD, that would the last thing Kidd would ever allow.

And Luffy soundless state only stimulated the emotion called anger. And anger never failed to lead towards violence. All the emotions he had felt in the last few days, too, translated itself into the white hot-rage. He felt like hitting something, and Luffy was there in front of him.

**SMACK!**

The slap on Luffy's cheek not only snapped Kidd back to his rational mind, but flung the boy off from the couch and the small body landed on the floor.

Nobody attempted any movement. Not even Luffy when the shock from being slapped was too overwhelming. Everything appeared to be stagnant. All that could be heard was the clock ticking, the cricket chirping and labored breathing that came from Kidd.

"Dammit…" The words came out through the gritted teeth as the mechanic rubbed his face with his palm.

Rolling over from his back to stomach, the child tried pushing himself up using his elbows as leverage, but somehow he couldn't find his strength anywhere. So he settled by propping his frame midway, his head lowered down as Luffy was unable to confront his brother who was looking back at him. He touched his left check and felt the skin there throbbed. The pain was real.

Seeing how frail his brother was while struggling to sit up, it truly made his heart ached. The wall was still there. He loathed it with everything he had. That fiendish shield that kept him meters away from his own brother, from reaching out to him, to block him from touching Luffy's tender heart, his pain and his sorrow.

"Why won't you tell me anything…?"

The small fingers dug into the rug.

"…Why are you blocking me away?"

The slightly pouty lips trembled.

"I'm not her…" The voice sounded breathless as though Kidd himself was on the brink of breaking. "…I'm not mama."

Hot. Something scorching was twirling around his heart. Then, ever so slowly, the sensation crawled upward. As much as the child wanted to press the feeling back to where it came from, it was still there. Slithering, creeping, inching, all the way up. Luffy felt suffocated.

"I'm your brother, Luffy. Just…" Another breathless sound. "… me. So please… let me in."

Little by little, Luffy tilted his head up from looking dead straight at the rug. He still wouldn't look at his brother in the eyes, but that was more than enough to for Kidd to see those glassy orbs and the trembling lips.

"…urt."

The sound was cracking, so Kidd couldn't hear it very well.

"Wha—"

"…H-hurt." The voice repeated. It was quaking, but the man heard it pretty damn well. Did Luffy just—

Then Luffy tipped his head further up. Nut brown finally met with crimson.

Now, the light from the fluorescent lamp picked up the tears in the boy's eyes, making each drop gleam before it fell to his cheek. His irises were so light, almost colorless, bright with pain and sorrow that had driven him into that state.

Kidd didn't think twice and closed the gap between them, his heart reaching out. As if to hide himself, Luffy dropped his head down, but the mechanic kneeled over while pulling the boy up from the floor to hug the small frame closer to him. The limbs flailed around to shove away the warm body. Instead of recoiling, Kidd only pressed his brother closer, as if he was trying to connect their hearts.

The man held his brother tight, rubbing his back with one hand and combing the fingers of the other through his hair. Kidd squeezed the small body into him until Luffy's resistance dissipated with the sob he no longer tried to stifle.

"… hurt… it h-hurt…" The child sobbed, his tears cool against his brother's neck.

"I'm so sorry, Luffy. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Kidd murmured the apologizing word into Luffy's cold hair like a mantra. The body shook and trembled as everything that cooped up inside finally surged out like a river.

"Uhhnn… K-Kidd…" More hiccups. "Hurt…" As he cried out his brother's name, Luffy fisted the man's shirts like his life was depending on it.

Appalled, Kidd swallowed hard. This was the first time Luffy had called him since he'd arrived, but only after he needle him too far and finally the boy had broken down.

Kidd was ashamed of himself.

"I'm really sorry." With Luffy cradled on his laps, the redhead sat on the floor and leaned his back against the couch.

As his weeps went louder by few notes, so was the force of his clutch. At some point, Kidd thought those tiny looking fingers might actually rip his shirts.

"Hurt…Kidd…it hurt." Luffy paused only to release another snuffling fit. "Mama… she—she… it h-hurt, Kidd…"

Luffy cried for every miserable moment of his life. He cried for every pain inflicted by his mother but couldn't tell anyone about it. He wept for times when he couldn't express his emotions in fear of more punishments. He shed tears for the lack of kindness, warmth and tenderness when those were the ones he longed the most. He sobbed for every time he felt lonely and powerless, but none were there to reach out for him. He whimpered for every inability to inform people what he likes and dislikes. He wailed for the times when the neighbor kids played in the playground while he could only gaze longingly from the apartment window. He sniveled for every time he saw a mother held her child with love and kindness radiated from her while his own mother would only look at him with abhorrence.

That time, the 'wall' splintered into million pieces inside him. Luffy felt bare, unprotected, and frightened but the way Kidd held him with his remarkable strength and gentle heart immediately swept away those ugly feelings. Instead, the child had never felt this safe and he was flooded with joy he hadn't known existed.

While the wailing fit was gradually increasing in volume, the mechanic rubbed the agonized curve of Luffy's spine. He now knew that those tear was for the pain and grief that had built up for so long. Eight years. Such a small number, yet, when thrown into hell hole like, it felt like eternity. Especially for a child like Luffy.

"Shhh… I know, I know." Kidd murmured for his brother to listen. "She's not here. She can't hurt you anymore. You're safe here, Luffy. You're safe with me. You're not a worthless kid. You deserve everything, because you're my brother." The man kept on repeating over and over again, like a broken record player for he wanted to engrave those words in his brother's heart.

The chanting went on and on and after god knew for many times, Luffy detached himself from Kidd and looked up. His eyes were red and puffy, his cheeks wet from his own tears, his runny nose was sore from sniffling too much and on top of that, he was still sobbing.

He was still a kid, a duckling that was still ignorance in many aspects, that much he knew. Still, the second he looked into his brother's eyes, he immediately knew right down the bottom of his soul that every word Kidd had just said was true.

"Listen to me, Luffy. Listen." Kidd either side of Luffy's head with both of his hands, to have the boy's full attention. On his face, there were only compassion and kindness. "Tell me, alright? Just tell me what you want to eat for dinner, or if you want to watch cartoons, or if you hate the color red, or if you think the dog walks funny or anything at all. Talk to me, 'kay? Let it go. No one is going to punish you for that. No one!"

Wiping his nose with the back of his hand, Luffy nodded.

"It's going to be okay. We're going to do this very slowly."

"Okay." Luffy's voice was hoarse from all the wailing earlier and his runny noise wasn't making it any better.

"Baby steps, alright?" Releasing his hold, Kidd's hand went to ruffle the boy's messy hair.

The look on Luffy face was of pure confusion. What does baby have anything to do with him?

Even though his brother was still sniffling, the man still sensed the puzzlement aura Luffy was emitting.

Kidd chuckled and tapped the boy's chest with his fingertip. "It means we're going to do this one step at a time. We'll follow your own pace and don't rush and don't give up until we reach our goal. Agree?"

With such vigorous, Luffy nodded. "Um, baby steps." He repeated the words as if to bear them in his mind before burying his face back into the crook of Kidd's neck and continued the forgotten sniffling fit. This time, he went for the left side since the top, right side of the redhead's shirts was already damp with his own tears.

Whilst Luffy was in that state, Kidd figured out he would be immobilized for a while. So he wriggled his body a bit to get himself comfortable and let his head fall back against the sofa.

Without doubt, it would take a while for Luffy to finish letting loose everything that worth eight years of pent up emotions.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

One and half hour later, the apartment was finally free from any wailing or sniffling noise. The child glued to him rubbed his puffy eyes but didn't indicate any sign that he wanted to move any time soon. A slight twist of the head to the right, Kidd saw the antique brass clock read five minutes after eleven. It was passed Luffy's bedtime.

Kidd stood, wrapping his brother tighter in his arms and lifted him, who weighed far too little. He held Luffy on his hip and placed the boy's head on his shoulder. Instead of heading straight for Luffy's room, the mechanic strode to the kitchen. Shifting the cradled body a tad, Kidd used the hand that wasn't holding his brother to reach for the glass jar on far end of the bar counter, containing sugar cubes.

He had read somewhere that sugar could bring relief to a scalded tongue.

For sure it was tricky to open a jar using only one hand, but somehow Kidd managed to pull it off and took one out.

"Luffy." The redhead murmured.

Upon hearing his name, the boy lifted his head and startled when there was a block shape thingy nudged to his lips.

"Eat this. It's for the tongue."

Luffy seemed to hesitate until the man say, "Don't worry, it's sweet." then he slowly parted his lips and took the cube into his mouth. Indeed, it was sweet and taste like candy, except that this one didn't contain any flavor in it. Candies and snacks were a rare treat he received before he started living with Kidd and the now and then visit from Kidd's friend, the snack eater blond man. One habit he picked up while eating candy was that, instead of sucking on it, he preferred to bite down on it halfway through.

So when Luffy was just about to chomp down the sugar cube, Kidd noticed the intention. At once, he grasped the boy's jaw to stop him from crushing it. "No, no, no! Don't bite, just suck on it until it's gone."

Puzzled, the raven-haired boy complied and used his tongue to hold the granulated sugar on place and sucked on the cube. Two minutes or so, the sweetener fully dissolved into his tongue and he made a final swallow. Inside his mouth, Luffy rolled his tongue around and noticed it didn't sting as much as before.

"Done?" Once he saw Luffy made his last swallow, Kidd asked.

Nodding, Luffy responded with a simple "um". After closing the jar of sugar cubes back, Kidd re-hoisted Luffy up his hip again; he had slipped a bit when the redhead were closing the container. Then he moved from the kitchen to his brother's bedroom with a living bundle that looked far too comfortable being carried around like that.

When they reached the bed, Kidd pushed back the fluffy, blue comforter before easing the boy down on the cool sheets. The small body jolted slightly from the cold and Luffy let out a helpless peep, tightening his grip when Kidd tried to get him to let go.

"Hey… you need to let go and get some sleep."

Kidd sighed softly when the hands locked around his neck was too resilient. Pale arms later sneaked under the smaller body to hug Luffy close to him, squeezing the frame until his brother was raised up slightly from the mattress.

While at it, Kidd rubbed Luffy's scalp so that he would calm down. "Shh… You'll be alright. Everything's going to be fine."

Voila! Luffy slowly untangled his limbs and allowed his body to be dropped back on the bed. His little feet quickly scrambled only to slip them under the cover because of the cold sensation biting through his skin. Above him, Kidd had a tiny smile decorated his face as he pulled the comforter over the boy.

Then he reached out a hand, brushing away the lock of untamed raven hair that spilled over his forehead and covered Luffy's eyes. Once the strands were no longer there, the small scar under the boy's eye stood out even more. The redhead mulled over to question his brother regarding the damaged skin, but later decided that he would ask about it some other time.

Feeling all worn out, Luffy yawned as he watched the man's retreating back. By the time the light of his room was switched off, he felt his consciousness slowly ebbing away.

Who would have guessed that shedding your tears could drain a lot of energy?

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

After putting the used mugs in the drying rack, Kidd leaned against L-shape bar counter. Grabbing the glass of grapefruit juice from the table top next to him, the redhead took a gulp of the pink, citrusy juice. The second the liquid invaded his taste buds, Kidd grimaced.

Bitter, tangy and sweet taste. Like a mixture of salt, lemon and orange. Not a good choice of flavor when you are in a deep thought on someone with a personality order.

The mechanic bent over slightly to open the cabinet drawer next to the oven—natural wood color with reddish tint and a solid black for the counter top, giving the interior of the kitchen a classic charm. On the top shelves inside drawer, Kidd spotted the blue box filled with small packets of brown sugar. He took one out and tore it, dumping the sweetener into his juice to make his drink sweeter and to balance the sourness.

Until now, he still has a hard time dealing with the bitterness.

As he stirred the concoction, his attention flew back to what happened earlier. Tonight, he managed to take off the top of Luffy's wall and let himself into his life. That was a big step.

Nevertheless, Luffy's got a lot of challenges ahead of him, but the redhead was willing to take it on together with his brother.

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N: Some of you may think that I'm rushing with the plot but the truth is, this is where things are going to get REALLY interesting during Luffy's rehabilitation. A lot and I mean A LOT new characters are going to be introduced as well as chapters. Their appearance might be expected, but not the roles they are playing. Hopefully I still can keep up with a fast update since at the moment I'm busy doing lab works for my final year projects. Stupid dumb asses…. .**


	6. A Steady Climb

**Chapter 6: A Steady Climb**

**A/N: I made this chapter extra loooooooonnnnnggggg as a little treat for those who's been supporting this story. The truth is, I'm shocked with the reviews I've received so far! *gasping for air* I never would have guessed you guys would enjoys this piece since its major AU and OOC-ness. For now, please enjoy to your heart content! **

**p/s I was pretty tired when writing this (the labs work are killin' me!), so please excuse me for the extra grammar mistakes.**

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**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"I hit Luffy last night."

Those gloved hands that were in the middle of unscrewing transmission oil cooler lines halted. The owner of the limbs looked up and tilted his head to the side so he could see past the hood, a blue raspberry rock candy in his mouth. With unreadable expression, Killer rolled the confectionery with his tongue and the stick of the candy slid over to the side of his mouth with a muffled 'clack'. Past through the lifted front hood, his redhead nemesis was leaning against the passenger door of the Ford EcoSport he was currently working on.

Frowning, the blond pulled his bright blue sucker out. Did he just hear him right or his ears were playing tricks on him? Part of him hoped the later. Every day working in the garage and listening to the sound of loud machineries could lead to a damaged eardrum. So Killer would be the least surprised if suddenly he was diagnosed with ruptured eardrum and couldn't hear things well.

But if it really was the first part…

The second he saw the gloved hand tightened around the tool, Kidd immediately lifted his hands in surrendering gesture.

"Before you hit me with that wrench, hear me out first."

Killer raised his left brow, non-verbally telling his fellow mechanic to give a reasonable explanation or the open end wrench would be hurled straight into Kidd's direction.

Obviously, his aim would be the head.

"We were having after dinner drink like we always did. Him with his usual hot chocolate and me with latte while watching the documentary and—and—"

"I don't care," Killer interrupted with a head shake after he pulled out the sucker from the confinement of his mouth.

"What?"

The frowned deepened. "I don't care about the drinks or what kind of cute animal documentary you were watching. What I want to know is what goes on in that brain of yours that made you hit that kid?"

"Fuck it, Kill. Would you just let me finish? Or are you going to throw that wrench at me right now like when you gave me your right hook?" Kidd couldn't help the note of sarcasm crept into his voice.

"Alright, alright. Sorry. Continue then…"

"Anyway, his drink was too hot and he burnt his tongue. But Luffy didn't say a word. He just sat there like there's nothing went wrong with his usual poker face. I noticed it, of course, so I asked him why he kept quiet and if he's going to keep that up even when if he got injured. Still, he wouldn't even straight into my eyes let alone to answer me. I got frustrated and—and-" The redhead paused only to let out a deep sigh before he continued, "So I slapped him."

Kidd put up his hand. "And that's all. Just a slap. One single slap to the cheek."

"… and ?" The male blonde prompted him.

"Then I sort of said things to him. You know… that I'm not her and I would never be like her, and stuffs…"

The redhead bit his inner cheek. "And he cried his eyes out for almost two hours. He mumbled something about our mum and how it hurts… I think he just let out everything."

His hold on the wrench softened and Killer rest his palm over the front bumper to support part of his weight when he leaned slightly to the side. "Honestly, I really feel like hitting you right now and I don't care if blood splatters all over this garage floor."

There wasn't even a crack of smile on the blonds' face and Kidd didn't even dare to snort.

"But then came the crying part," The blond thought for a moment, "That's a good thing… I mean, crying is part of emotion, is it?" It was clearly a guess.

"Well… I guess." Extending his foot, the redhead kicked playfully the bucket filled with remaining radiator coolant on the floor. The yellow liquid inside sloshed around at the impact. "I just hope he doesn't think that I was trying to hurt him and got freak out or something."

Killer shoved the crystal candy back into his mouth, deep in his thought. While the candy melted the sweet and sour of raspberry flavor filled his taste buds, reminding him of summer a bit.

Based purely on his instinct, Killer doubted that Luffy would think that Kidd wanted to harm him. However, this non-foundational theory only works for normal people, free from any personality disorder. But for a fragile and broken child like little Luffy, the outcome might be off track.

"What's done is done. It's more important that you can't give up now. Luffy's already showing some progress and you're probably the only person that can give him emotional support." Killer mumbled, the white stick of the rock candy sliding back and forth to either side of his mouth. He watched his redhead friend as Kidd raked his mind; probably try to come up whatever best for his kid brother.

Somewhere beneath the noise made by an air rotary cut off tool, the blond still could distinguish the faint booming sound caused by air expanding along the path of lightning, also known as thunder. Electric blue eyes darted towards the opened garage door and saw the wind gently tugging the tree branches.

Another rainy evening. How refreashing.

From the garage door, his eyes darted back to the source of the sharp, piercing sound. "Hey, Thatch! Could you keep it down a lil' bit? If my eardrum gets damaged today, I'm going to sue you!"

Thirty feet away, in the middle of cutting the exhaust bracket, the mechanic had his left leg twitched. The said man turned his tool off and slid from underneath the jacked, hatchback sedan.

Snorting, the platinum blond man shot an amused look to his twelve years junior while still laying on the black mat. "What do you expect? This is a car repair shop, not a dental clinic. Don't worry, another three years of working in this shit hole, you'll have at least one ruptured eardrum. Worse, you'll even suffer some mental trauma like me."

A single kick to his exposed leg by a leather boot caused Thatch to let out a manly yelp.

"Well this shit hole is what has been feeding you stomach, you fucker."

Above, the owner of the car repair shop was sneering down at his worker with a raised eyebrow. All his workers really are one of the kinds, aren't they? Like some kind of rare species. As if a pink haired girl that eats portions sufficient to feed an army platoon was not enough, now there's this flaming redhead with painted nails and glares that could send carnivorous animals scurrying for higher ground, his blond mate that kept on producing snacks out of nowhere like magic, a ventriloquist with a pigeon as a 'dummy' and now there is a blond with pompadour hairstyle smirking back at him.

There are more, but he was too tired to list them all.

"Alright, alright. I get you. This ain't a shit hole, it's a gold mine. Happy?"

A deep rumble erupted from the back of Absalom's throat. Almost similar to lion's. "And what's this mental trauma you're on about anyway?"

Thatch smiled sheepishly, his fingers fiddling with the wire of the cut off tool. "Um, yeah, you know…"

Shaking his head, Kidd rolled his eyes. "Oh boy, one little flesh wound and he gets all twitchy. You call that mental trauma?"

The pompadour man gasped indignantly. "I was bleeding back there! And my blood was all over the floor!"

"It was only a simple cut on the forearm. By a razor scrapper. It's not like you lost the whole arm with a chainsaw." The redhead snorted, followed by chuckles from Killer.

"It was your fault anyway. Getting distracted when handling that thing." The owner of the garage added, "And if you have time to whine like a girl, why don't you hurry up with the exhaust. The guy has been calling me since yesterday."

Thatch frowned at his boss. "Don't look at me. That blond brat over there is the one who interrupted my work."

In instant, Killer chocked on his own candy. Here it comes. The authorizing 'I'm-your-boss-and-you-are-my-lackey' look that only Perv-Salom could make.

Like a ten year old kid that just got caught with his hand inside a cookie jar, Killer pointed back at the pompadour man. "Thatch was being too loud. I think he was trying to murder the car."

"Wha—bullshit. Can't you see I'm handling this baby with tender, loving care? I always make sure she gets the gentlest treatment from me."

Disgusted look was shot from the three towards the blond on the floor.

"Ugh… Even though we're mechanics, I still can't accept that deep intimacy between man and his car." The redhead junior mumbled.

Killer snickered at the remark. "That's probably the reason why his wife left him. Poor lady must felt neglected."

When his ears picked up the word 'wife', Thatch hissed in annoyance. "Shut up, you brats! Just wait only you get married and see for yourself the dreadfulness of marriage life—"

While his worker was barking unintelligent words next to him, Absalom could do nothing but to sigh and message his temple furiously. Another clap of thunder and the man looked passed through the opened garage door.

"You better go fetch you brother now, Kidd. It's going to rain soon." Absalom said to the young worker.

Slightly alarmed, Kidd realized his superior just made his point by pointing outside the garage. "Oh damn, you're right."

Kidd jogged towards the changing room at the back of the shop, exchanging insults with Bonney along the way. Three minutes later, he emerged back. Free from his oil and grease stained clothes, the redhead was now clad in another set of his casual attire—a double layer jeans shirt with the first two button undone and the long sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a dark rinse, cliff straight leg jeans and a black rolled down boots.

Almost reaching the sectional garage door, Kidd halted his steps when Bonney's high pitched voice reached his ears.

"Bring the umbrella, you idiot. You muscles head might be immune to cold, but I don't think your kid brother is." The pinkette tossed the grey rain shade towards Kidd in which he caught it with ease.

"Jeez, thanks." Kidd expressed his gratitude insincerely. Before Bonney could offer another smart ass remark, the mechanic already far gone to the street, hot on his heels.

"Damn, that kid is lucky." Thatch muttered as Kidd was out of his eyeshot. "A cute lil' brother and he get to leave early. Only if I have small brats with me…"

Stifling a raucous laugh, Killer pulled the wrapper off the new candy stick with his teeth. This time, it was cherry flavored. "Keep on dreaming. Your inability to make baby is probably the second reason why your wifey left you."

"Brat, don't make me stand up from this mat. Once I'm up, the first thing I'll do is to burn down your snacks treasure chest and—"

"Did he only bring one umbrella with him?" Absalom interjected and later noting their heads bobbing in agreement.

Killer let his canine teeth nibbled on the tip of the rock candy. "Well, assuming that Luffy has his own umbrella…"

The blond trio went silent for a while before Thatch spoke up. "… Or, Kidd's going to carry him like a doting brother."

A small smirk tugged their lips almost simultaneously while the trio had the very same inner monolog.

'Now that's an interesting picture I'm really dying to see.'

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Half an hour standing by the school gate and Kidd still hadn't spotted any untamed haired boy carrying a blue shark bag pack, namely Luffy. Seeing the shrinking amount of children scurrying out from the school building was starting to make the inside of his stomach tumbled all over and yet, his brother was still nowhere to be seen.

To his left, a boy with a green hair was leaning against the brick wall of the gate with his bag resting on the concrete pavement. Similar to him, the boy had been waiting for someone, presumably his parents. Even worse, the child was already there by the time the redhead arrived at the school gate and Kidd noted the frown on his face deepened for every passing minute.

Shrugging, Kidd walked over to the green haired boy. "Hey there."

Startled by the sudden greeting, the boy looked up. His olive eyes widened by a fraction at the towering man.

"Sorry," The man started. "Have you seen a boy about this height, messy black hair, wear a blue bag and uh…" Kidd paused as he tried hard to remember what else about Luffy that can be used as descriptions. "Oh yeah, and he wears an orange parka with hood."

About ten second or so, the boy went wordless as he stared hard at the distant. The quietness of him was too much for Kidd's comfort. Of course, there're probably dozens of black haired kid wearing parka and blue bag and the redhead could be describing anyone for all he knew.

"A blue and yellow rain boots?" Without warning, the green haired boy opened his mouth.

"Wha—?"

"I said," The kid repeated, louder this time. At the moment, he probably assumed that his voice didn't reach the man rather than Kidd was simply confused with the additional statement. "Is he wearing a blue and yellow rain boots?"

It took a solid minute for the mechanic to process the boy's question and later realized that he did buy the described boots for Luffy.

"Yeah, that's right." Still, there're many of those with the same boots—

"And a small scar under his left eye?" The boy added.

-alright, this is definitely Luffy the boy was referring to. Who else in this neighborhood that fit the description?

"You saw him?"

A dip of the head was all the confirmation Kidd needed. "He already went home."

Kidd blinked at that. The earlier question was answered, but now he was left with dozens more questions and the redhead had no slightest idea which one to ask first.

"With whom?" He finally settled with one.

"No one." From his vintage point, the boy noticed the alarmed look on the man. "I saw he was walking by himself."

"Are you sure?"

The respond was just another nod.

Now for the second important question. "Which way did he go?"

"That way." The boy pointed towards his left. In other words, towards Kidd's right side of direction.

Swiveling his head to the right, Kidd squinted hard to spot any walking small figure. To his horror, there was none at that time. He felt a burning sensation in his chest and remembered that he needed to breathe.

"Thanks, little man." The mechanic patted the boy's shoulder lightly before dashing to the appointed route, fear were flooding into him like a tsunami wave.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Killer was in the middle of tightening the top radiator hose when the car horn suddenly blasted, the loud sound echoed throughout the shop.

"Shit!" The blond exclaimed as his body jolted. Immediately, he pulled away from the engine and nearly toppling over his own tool box. Once the honking stopped, the mechanic bend his upper body slightly to the right and saw another smirking blond was standing next to the driver door with his hand inside the car's interior. His hand had just finished the deed of pushing down the car's horn.

"Dammit, Thatch!" Annoyance coated his voice and Killer fought the urge to fling the spanner at the smirking man. "Keep pulling that shit and I'll sue you with the charge of attempting murder."

The sight of Killer rubbing his chests while muttering insults furiously under his breath couldn't make Thatch's day any brighter. The man couldn't stop the grin from splitting his face. "This is payback for the insurance-less mouth. And oh, your phone is ringing."

Ignoring the rowdy laughter of the pompadour man, the younger headed towards the wooden cabinet at the far, right side of garage while stripping his gloves off. Bare hands, Killer placed the safety garment together with his hand tool on the shelf filled with different grades of motor oil. It was the usual spot for his cellphone since he wanted to simply kill the possibility of startling the crap out of him if he was to keep the phone inside his pocket and the device later vibrates. Never to surprise a mechanic who was in the middle of work and Thatch was the best example of the consequences.

The name of a certain redhead flashed on the screen of the communication device. With a small shrug, Killer placed the phone next to his ear and for the second time of the day, his body jolted at Kidd's booming voice.

"He freaks out, Kill!" The man on the other line said. "He must've thought that his brother is total assho-lish bastard and now he's running away from home! The only memory I would have about him is that he left home with a broken heart, wearing an orange parka and a blue rain boots!"

Killer looked at his phone and blinked, mouth slightly agape. Then he brought it back to his ear. "I'm sorry Mister Eustass, could you please repeat that? All I caught was assho-lish and orange parka."

At the other end of the line, Kidd sighed and took a deep breath. It seemed like it would be better for him to break the news into chunks suitable to a very confused Killer. "I went to pick up Luffy from his school just now but he wasn't there. There's a kid saw him walking by himself to god knows where."

"What? Are you sure?"

Somewhere in the vicinity of his throat, Kidd felt his heart thumping madly. "Yeah… he—I think he's running away, Kill."

Once again, Killer took a deep look at his phone as though it was a foreign object sent from another dimension. He stood still, processing his thought while ignoring Kidd's voice that demanded to know why all of sudden he went silent. Shoulders relaxed, the blond than proceeded to reach his left arm overhead, placing palm on the center of his back while supporting the elbow with his right hand. The blond stretched his triceps muscles until the fingertips reached down his spine.

Far away at the back of the garage, Thatch, who had just return from toilet frown at seeing his junior worker behavior. "What the heck is that kid doing…?"

As soon as he had finished repeating the procedure for the opposite side, Killer finally went back for his phone to pick up where he had left off. "… You still there?"

When thrown with such question, Kidd made a disbelief sound. "What the—of course I'm still here! It's you who suddenly went all silent. Where have you been anyway?"

The blond shrugged. Secretly, he was glad that Kidd couldn't see that gesture because that will probably pissed the panicking redhead even more. "Just did something to get some parts of my brain to carry out common sense and logic thought. And thanks to that, I have concluded there's no way in hell that Luffy could have thought of running away from home."

"What do you mean?"

Indeed, why did he produce such hypothesis. "Think about it, Kidd. He's only an eight year old boy, not some petulant teenager who wants to elope with his girlfriend from narrow minded parents."

"But—"

"You know him the best. Do you really think he'd run away when you're probably the closest person has in his life…? Not to mention he has no money with him or other relatives."

Leaning against the tree, Kidd run his fingers through his thick locks. His friend had valid points. Luffy wouldn't run off just like that… right? Still, he could not get rid of the uneasy feeling that was settling at the bottom pit of his stomach. "Then explain why he walked by himself."

"Honestly, I wouldn't know. Maybe he was trying to get home by himself? Have you checked your apartment?"

"Not yet." Replied the redhead who was looking up at the dark, daunting clouds that were moving across the sky.

There was a clicking noise made by Killer's tongue, the usual action when he comes up with a solution. "Right now, go back to your house and see if he's there. Call me back if you still can't see Luffy anywhere and I'll help you look for him. The others are still in the shop, I'll ask them to come along."

"Do you think they'll help?" There was a hint of hesitancy laced in Kidd's voice.

Killer frowned at the note. "Kidd, we are talking about your lil' brother here. Not some escaped hardcore criminal. Of course we'll help, stupid."

Annoyance and ease, both emotions swirled together within him. "… thanks, mate. Anyway, I'm going to head home first. I'll call you back when I get there."

"Yeah, do that."

One single click and then the line went dead. The blond shut his phone, slightly perturbed with the situation. Until Kidd has confirmed Luffy's whereabouts, the feeling would linger in contrast with his earlier confident speech.

For now, all Killer could do was to wait for the next phone call.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXx 30 minutes later xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Distinctive splattering sound was the only thing she could hear at the moment as the rain droplets hit the surface of her umbrella, leaving trails as they rolled down the canopy. Clutching harder at the handle, Bonney darted her eyes everywhere that those violet orbs could reach. As a matter of fact, she had been doing it for the past fifteen minutes ever since she left the garage along with other workers.

Yet, a 3'8" boy with an orange parka still couldn't be spotted anywhere.

Lucky enough, it was only drizzle at the moment or it would be helluva difficult to search for Kidd's brother. Earlier when Killer had announced in the garage that little Luffy was missing in action, everyone (including her) was thrown into a swivet state. It was a total pandemonium per say, as though Killer had just broken the news that there was a massive bomb installed inside the shop and they were all goners. If Perv-Salom hadn't used his commanding voice to calm his workers, they would be knocking their heads with each other.

Of course, she had bumped into Lucci and knocked the wind out of the man. Miraculously, it was the ventriloquist that landed on the floor and on his ass, no less.

That very news was what had driven her out on the street together with the others, in order to search for little Luffy. They spread out to widen their search area and hopefully, that would make the process even faster.

As Bonney made another turn, she gathered up her mind to think of possible locations that an eight year boy could be.

Adult bookstore…? Wait, only Thatch would go there.

A bar…? Heck no. That's Marco sacred hang out place.

Candy store…? Pfft, that Killer's.

Restaurant…? Uh huh, nope, that's her port.

Fed up with the non-progressing ideas, the pinkette almost hit her forehead against the nearby tree when she caught the sight of playground on her right side. It was a commercial type, with slides, climbers, tunnels, shades and all of them are connected together. Instinct instructed her to squint harder at the outdoor play area. and when she did, Bonney picked up an out of place object.

Just inside the hut, under the Heavy-Duty Pleated Vinyl Canopy, a single person was there. Based on the frame structure, it was obviously a boy sitting inside the playground cabin with his back facing against the pinkette.

Could it be…? No, it was too early to let out any tears of joy. She needed to make sure that the person was indeed the subject of her search.

Her high heeled booted legs made a few step forward to have a better glimpse. The second she recognized the untamed raven hair and described orange parka along with a blue bag, she wanted to cry in relief.

Tempted to call out for the boy, Bonney immediately abandon her decision when she recalled about Luffy's condition. She might just scare the hell out of boy. It seemed like Luffy had yet to notice her presence. Although he wasn't facing her, Bonney could guess the kid had his legs down the connected slide, slightly kicking in the air. Instead of gazing up front, the head was tilted lower like there was something fascinating on the ground.

Not a second to waste, Bonney pulled out her phone and dialed for the redhead's number. On the third ring, Kidd's voice reverberated on the receiver.

"Guess what, Kidd. I found 'em." Bonney chirped while making sure her voice not to reach Luffy.

As anticipated, the man was all surprised at the news. "No kiddin'. Where?"

"The playground near his school. You know where it is, right?"

Kidd slapped his own forehead. Of-fucking-course! Why didn't he think of the possibility that Luffy might be there!

"Yeah. I'll be there in ten." The mechanic then snapped shut his phone.

It didn't take him ten minutes to arrive there after all. Half of the promised time later, the only female worker of the car repair shop saw a figure holding a black umbrella jogging towards her.

"Right there. Inside that house looking thing." She motioned towards said spot once she was within the redhead's earshot.

The man was panting slightly, and Bonney noticed the pink shade overshadowed the paleness of his face. Another reason to believe that Kidd had been running like hell to reach the playground faster than he intended to.

"Hey Bonney."

"Hnn…?"

"Do you think he was trying to run away?" Kidd muttered quietly.

A disbelief look was shot from his fellow worker. "Don't be stupid, Red. If he really was trying to run away from you, he'd be hiding in some secretive place. Not in open space of a playground near his own school."

"Don't just stand there, go get him!" Bonney slapped the man's back when he made no indication to move. "I'm going to tell the others that we found him."

"Thanks woman. I owe you one." Kidd said as the pinkette walked away, probably back to the garage. In return, she waved lazily at the redhead, mouthing 'no problem' along the way.

Still titled with the healthy amount of apprehension, Kidd strolled forward and gripped on his umbrella harder as though the object itself is a talisman.

"Hey."

Luffy blinked at the familiar voice. The head that was previously tipped down now had twisted to his left towards the source. Nut brown eyes then enlarged at the presence of the newcomer who was standing near the coil climber, exactly next to the makeshift house.

While Luffy didn't show any sign of fear or wanting to run away, the seed of worries inside him dissipated almost in instant. Instead, his brother seemed puzzled not only because of Kidd's out of nowhere appearance, but at the sight of him panting like a dog in a very hot summer.

"…what—" Deep breath, Kidd struggled to find his voice so he wouldn't sound like someone who had a peanut butter stuck inside his throat. "What are you doing here, Luffy? Why didn't you wait me at the school gate like always?"

That tone. He recognized it. It was similar to with the one from last night.

Kidd was worried about him.

The guilt he saw in Luffy's eyes stopped him from needling his brother any further. It was more than enough to know that he was free from any harm.

That time, the raven haired boy was anticipating any kind of scolding words or blow. What he didn't foresee was for Kidd to lean down and place his palm over the back of his raven head, pulling him closer until his chin bumped into the man's shoulder.

"God, you scared me…" The voice was shaky as Kidd murmured into his hair. He inhaled deeply the familiar fruity scent of Luffy's shampoo as if to remind him that it was indeed his brother he had in his arm, not some kind of illusion.

"You weren't there and I thought you ran away… or something bad happened to you." He continued, slightly eased when Luffy didn't recoil from his touch.

The boy bit his lips when his brother pulled away, missing the comforting warmth that only Kidd possessed.

"Let's go home, alright?"

In some way, the word 'home' sounded so right to his ear, making his heart lurched in delight. Before living with Kidd, every time he heard the very same remark, darkness—the ugly, ruthless shadow—would blacken his own existence, blocking out every possible light from reaching him. As if that wasn't enough, fear came along, working side by side with darkness, coiling around him like roses thorn. Any attempt to remove them would only tear everything that was tender in him.

Home for him, was nothing more than monsters lair.

But that ugly, painful cage was no longer there to confine him because his brother somehow managed to break the unshakable barrier without any armor and sword. He was only clad with kindness and tenderness and the wall was now smashed into pieces.

In some way, he was still afraid to venture out from his long life confinement. Who knows what sort of creatures dwelled outside? What if there are monsters like before?

And Kidd understood his fear more than any person in this world. Instead of pulling him out from the secured room with force, the man let himself in without any hint of hesitancy. Surrounded by eerie darkness, he listened to Kidd's reassuring murmurs while his brother embraced his quivering frame, chanting again and again that they would together walk out from the pitch black room by following his slow pace.

The man was guiding him towards the light.

Now that light was ever so slowly breathed back into his soul, Luffy could see things from a different perspective. Like their home for example. The place that he now looked forward to return to.

Home now was like a sacred place. There would be his bouncy bed, the delicious hot chocolate, the hot bubble bath, the evening cartoon, etc; and they were all waiting for him. It was also the place he shared with his brother, the person who appreciated his existence the most.

"Luffy…?"

The said boy snapped out of his trance when Kidd's voice assaulted his hearing. When he looked up, the man was tilting his head slightly to the side, a light frown marred his face. He was probably wondering why his brother didn't follow him suit when the raindrops were turning fatter and fatter by minutes.

Kidd was still waiting and Luffy was still stalling. The dull pain on his legs made him wanted to cry for his brother, but the fear was stitching his mouth shut. The tug of war inside was making the boy nervous, he was in the verge of hyperventilating.

Even so, the man said himself that it was okay to speak whatever dwelled in his mind. And he knew better that Kidd wouldn't lie.

At last, after a full minute of tug of war game, Luffy finally settled on one side.

Gripping the hem of his parka, the boy hesitated for a moment. The opened his mouth while looking straight into Kidd's eyes.

"…hurt."

Kidd frowned since he didn't catch the sound. Crimson eyes caught the sight of Luffy's opening and closing his mouth, but he couldn't perceive whatever his brother had just said due to the splattering sound in his background. His tall frame was bent down back again so he has a better hearing.

"What was that?"

The raven haired boy sucked his lower lips harder into his mouth before releasing it with a faint smack. "My leg… it hurt."

It didn't take him more than two second to process Luffy's statement. "Where? Show me."

Small fingers clutched at the bottom part of the green cuffed cargo pants and pulled it up and once the cotton material went pass his right knee, Kidd had to blink twice to confirm the sight displayed before him.

On his brother's knee, a large size patch of skin was scraped off and covered by a thin layer of blood. It wasn't that deep, but for some reason the skinned knee was bleeding slightly. Although Luffy wouldn't suffer from blood loss and such, it would still be painful because of the many nerve ending that were exposed.

"How did you get this?" His brows knitted together as Kidd inspected the injury, while being careful not to touch the abused skin.

"I fell down." Luffy felt his toe twitched inside his shoes when the sudden gush of cold wind made contact with the damaged tissues.

"Where?"

Luffy pointed a certain area on the street less than fifty meters from the playground. "There."

But of course. Scrapes only occurs when the skin is rubbed away by friction against another rough surface. Bituminous pavement is the best example.

"It's not that bad, but we need to get it clean and every—"

Kidd paused.

Was it him, or the current situation was rather odd? Odd enough to make him reprocessed everything from the moment Luffy opened his mouth up until now, halting his ramble efficiently.

His brother who was hell bent in keeping everything to himself, inside his highly guarded wall just told him that his leg hurts.

It made Luffy's small frame jolted when all of sudden Kidd brought his hand up and touched his head. The pale fingers ran through his raven strands and the boy fought the urge to purr when the man scrapped his scalp lightly with his blunt nails.

Never in his life would have guessed that it would feel nice when being patted like this even if Luffy had no idea what had driven his brother to act such.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" The corner of the redhead's mouth extended by three millimeters which equivalent to a tiny smile. "Telling me stuff…"

"See?" Kidd continued as his hand still combing the remarkable soft lock. "Baby steps."

Stricken dumb at what he considered as compliment, Luffy could do nothing more but to nod and muttered, "Baby steps."

As he crouched down, Kidd rolled his brother's pants further so it would bunch up just above the skinned knees. It would totally hurt like bitch if the fabric gets stuck to the raw skin because of the drying blood. The wound alone already gave an unpleasant feeling and he was most certain Luffy didn't need any additional ouch factor.

Before Kidd could straighten back his pose, the small fingers made their way to the man's rolled sleeve, slightly gripping it. The normal action when someone required an attention from the other party.

"What's wrong?" That was the first time Luffy had expressed his need for attention and Kidd couldn't help but felt slightly alarmed. "Did you get hurt anywhere else?"

A simple shake of the head made the mechanic to let out a relieve sigh. He saw Luffy fiddled with the button of his cargo's side pocket, a trait when someone was in doubt.

"Luffy, its okay. You can tell me."

When he saw the hand moved to the hem of his parka as if to gather his nerve, Kidd added, "I won't get made at—"

A movement. Right behind the closed orange parka and around the area where Luffy's stomach lies.

If a picture being snapped at that moment, Kidd knew exactly what kind of expression plastered on his face. A horror-stricken look with eyes widened to an impossible size and a slightly gaping mouth.

Then it wiggled again, much more vigorous this time and the redhead almost went along with his instinct to shriek like the female actor in those third rate horror movies. Much to his terror, the edge of the parka was slowly lifted by whatever creature inside there, dangerously trying to make its appearance.

Oh fuck, fuck, double fuck.

The head was already popped out before Kidd could declare 'triple fuck'.

Two gleaming eyes stared back at him. Separated blocks of orange, white and black colored fur coated every inch of the skin, including the side of its mouth and ears. So when it fully revealed itself from head to toe, only more of those color pattern given away, the size of patches vary from fine speckled pattern to large area of color. And orange was definitely the dominant shade.

It reminded Kidd of a rolled pizza.

The ball of fur then mewed.

It was a kitten.

Of course it was. What else could it be? A six legs creature with large black eyes with a slimy body that wanted crawl out of Luffy's tummy?

As Kidd pinched the bridge of his nose, he reminded himself to stop watching the horror, gore movies recommended by Killer.

Another set of high pitched- volume mews followed suit and the redhead had a wild guess it was either due to cold or hunger. Or maybe both.

Luffy's finger worked their way from the feline's forehead to nape repeatedly, and the mews instantly replaced by content purrs. It responded further by rubbing its face against the boy's hand and licked his palm. It's like the kitten was giving a little kitty hug the only way it knew how to.

"Where did you find it?"

From the feline, Luffy darted his eyes towards the nearby tree as his hand still smoothing down the slightly damp fur. "Under the tree, inside a box."

And the cat was the main reason how Luffy had strayed to the playground. Much earlier before while waiting for his brother, his ears picked the resonating mewing sounds and as though his legs had their own mind, the limbs unconsciously moved towards the origin of the sound. The discovery was what he had expected.

A cat.

But he had not anticipated that there was only a single kitten inside a box. Nothing more. No siblings or grown female cat could be seen. Above all, it appeared frightened, cold and hungry.

Continuous deep rumbles on the sky forced him to pick up the kitten and ran towards the shelter in the playground where the incoming raindrops wouldn't get to him. He was being careless nevertheless. On his way towards the refuge, he tripped on the protruding bump on the pavement and fall flat on the road. Despite the throbbing pain on his legs and forearms, he didn't pause to whine or cry in pain. He hauled himself up and continued to toddle forward until he met his destination.

At that time he could only hope the sky wouldn't cry too long so he could go back to his school and wait for Kidd to arrive.

In the end, his brother found him first.

Kidd picked up the pizza colored cat from Luffy's laps until the wiggling fur ball was on his eye level. "I think it's a she. Cats with this pizza pattern are called Calico. And all Calicos are usually a female."

As if in agreement, the feline licked the mechanic's nose with her tiny tongue and mewled softly. When he glanced down, nut brown eyes were staring back at him. Though his brother didn't say a word, the sign of hope sparkled in those gems like a stars glittering on the sky at night.

It was too obvious what the boy wanted. He would be damned if he didn't understand the non-verbal language. Even blind people could have guess.

Yet, the mechanic couldn't be more surprise. Today, not only Luffy had informed him regarding his well-being, his brother even conveyed his desire for something.

Hell, this ain't baby steps at all. It was more like a tiger steps, or gazelle steps. Whichever possessed larger step.

And he would definitely be banished to the deepest layer of hell if he was to refuse Luffy.

"Seems like she doesn't have anywhere else to go. Should we take her home with us?" Kidd directed the question to his brother in which his answer would be nothing else but vigorous nods.

As expected.

Speaking of home... Now how to do this…?

Kidd knew well enough that Luffy could still walk although the boy might stagger a bit. But his gut was screaming that his brother was going to shoot another eye blinding beam in hope to be carried by the redhead again. Not that he mind actually. So now, there were Luffy, his bag pack, the kitten and oh, also his umbrella; all of them were meant to be hauled up by him.

During this time that he was thankful to the God for creating his body as it was—6'4" tall with packs of strong muscles and a first class stamina.

All left for now was to think of a strategy on how to haul them up in most well-organized manner.

As for the first step…

"Here, give me the bag, Luffy." Kidd gently removed the pack from Luffy only to have it slung on his right shoulder.

"Tuck in the front of your jacket and put her inside like you did before." The man watched Luffy insert the top into his pants and softly slipped the calico into his zipped jacket. The bundle of fur squirmed inside and for a second, Kidd almost swore that his ears picked up a giggling noise. But when he did a double-take, nothing about Luffy suggested that he was the culprit. His mouth was sealed shut while his fingers poked around the lump playfully.

Funny, maybe it was just his wild imagination.

Shaking his head, the mechanic nudged the black umbrella to Luffy's hand and the child looked up. "Hold this for me."

As soon as the handle was within the tight grasp of his brother's fist, Kidd sneaked an arm under the boy's thighs and used the other to support the small back. He lifted Luffy up using his hands as leverage and once the boy was safely secured on the left side of the his hip, Kidd took the umbrella back into his own hand while making sure Luffy's frame was facing upfront so he wouldn't crush the living fur ball.

On instinct, the raven-haired boy had his hands flew to circle Kidd's neck in fear of falling from the man's hold.

"Hey, don't worry. I won't let go." Kidd gave some sort of reassurance when he felt his brother clutched tightly on his shirt with his tiny fists.

It was just as he said. Kidd never did loosen his hold on his brother until they reached their home.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Twenty minutes had passed ever since they departed from the playground. Once they had made it to the apartment, Kidd tossed the dripping umbrella into the basket next to the door and slowly put his brother down. He paced across the living area towards his bedroom only reappeared with a medium sized towel in his hand.

In front of the couch, Luffy was seen sitting on the floor, the kitten was back on his laps. Her damp fur was sticking out everywhere and the cat mewed helplessly at the lack of warmth. The child observed as Kidd's pale hand scooped her and wrapped the slightly shivering calico with a towel before placing it on the carpeted floor.

"Come one, clean yourself up and then we'll take a look at your knee."

From Kidd, the boy darted his attention back at the bundled up kitten. A hesitation frown tarnished his child-like face. "Uhm…"

"She'll be fine, Luffy." Almost understanding his brother inner turmoil, Kidd squeezed Luffy's shoulder. "See? She'll all warm inside there. Once we're done with your knee, then we'll clean her up afterwards. Okay?"

"Okay…" Luffy watched as the cat made herself comfortable by curling her agile body around to retain the heat.

Without waiting for further instruction, the younger trotted to the bathroom, leaving Kidd alone with the new… housemate.

While waiting for Luffy, the man took the tentative action of scratching the calico's head, just behind the ear. The responds were almost immediate. Her ear twitched despite the slanted eyes and for every inhale and exhale, there would be a vibration noise and the back of her throat. Up until now, Kidd still couldn't understand the mechanism behind the purring. It was simply too elusive. After all, felines had no unique anatomical feature that is responsible for the sound, do they?

The petting session then prolonged until Luffy returned from his shower with damp hair and pants-less.

Wait… pants-less as in, no pants?

Kidd didn't want to think anything at the moment even when he was dying to know why in the world would Luffy walk around the house not wearing his pants.

When squinted harder, the redhead saw the bottom of the pajama pants were clutched in his left hand. Well, at least Kidd knew the bottom didn't get flushed down the toilet or got eaten by the washing machine. Then crimson eyes then raked lower and stopped at the image of pinkish raw skin on Luffy's knee.

Realization then hit him. Long to short, Luffy's judgment of being pants-less was basically because he must have thought that it would be easier to treat his scrapped knee without any obstruction.

In truth, the mechanic just needed to assume that or else the mystery of the pants-less Luffy would bug him for the rest of his life.

"Sit here." The older mentioned at the dining chair he had set in front of the single seated sofa.

Oblivious to his brother baffled expression, the object of the bewilderment took a sit on the solid pine chair and jerked when the cold surface of lacquered wood touched his naked thighs. His eyes lingered on the content feline on the floor, hands prickling to stroke the multicolored fur.

Luffy took a last glance of the cat before focusing his attention to the man sitting before him. Medium, rectangular white box with a size approximately 10" long and 7" width was situated on his laps. Numerous plastic covered items, small bottles, tape, tweezers, and cotton swabs were arranged neatly inside the mysterious box.

Since it was an abrasion wound, Kidd didn't feel the need to visit a physician. He leaned down to inspect if there was any presence of debris or dirt on the damaged tissue. There was none, much to his relieve. It was probably due to the fact that the long pants he wore today acted as a barrier between the skin and the road surface. If that was the case, then he can moved on straight to the antibiotic part.

From the mysterious box, the mechanic fished out a bronze colored tube. An antiseptic healing ointment—blend of a tea tree oil, aloe, jojoba oil, vitamin E and 4% Lidocaine—that helps the wound to heal quickly and reduce the likelihood of scar. Luffy had enough scars and Kidd didn't wasn't any of those defected skin to get increased on his brother's body.

As he opened the tube cap, Kidd couldn't help but to wonder if the boy ever received any treatment whenever his mother, no, their mother inflicted the damage on his feet. But he was most certain he didn't. The man doubted their mother would initiate such caring act and if Luffy was treated by other individuals, they would have taken noticed of the abusive signs and reported to the authority, in which none of that happened.

The best assumption Kidd could form was that his brother had kept the injuries to himself and endured the pain.

Luffy's toe curled when the clear colored gel being applied on the pinkish skin. It stung.

"Sorry, sorry. It stings a lil' bit, but it's good for the skin."

After he had finished applying thin layer to the wound, he covered the gel-covered skin with a sterile gauze pad and patted the side of the injured knee to indicate he had finished.

"There, all done. Now put on your pants." _Because it's helluva awkward to see you bottomless and all. _

The last time Luffy being topless, he had received a hellish right hook from Killer. Now being bottomless, Kidd didn't wasn't to imagine what other misfortune that might befall on him.

When the waistband of the pajama bottom finally fit snugly around Luffy's narrow waist, Kidd breathed out the sign of relief. "Now… lets clean the pizz—I mean, the cat."

Great, now he started to refer the cat as pizza. Which was not a very wise decision when he hadn't eaten dinner yet.

Kidd lifted the calico up, heading straight to shower. The tiled floor was still wet; result from Luffy's earlier bathing session. He lowered the kitten into the sink and reached up, flipping a switch at the base of the shower head and pulled it from its fixed spot. His brother, who had been following him into the bathroom stood next to the porcelain sink bowl and peered down at the confused feline.

Next to him, Kidd had turned the knobs and fixed the water to a luke-warm temperature. Once the water spray hit the cat, her surprised mewl echoed throughout the entire house. Yes, house. The ears were pointed to the sides and flattened, pupils dilated in fear while her tiny claws had been extracting and contracting for a while now.

In order to sooth her, Luffy reached out his hand and stroked the wet fur, discarding the fact that his hand too, was going to get soaked by the water. When he did that, the calico seized the flailing although the weak cries were still present. They were several mud patches in the multicolored fur. Kidd worked his fingers as a makeshift comb to remove the brownish clump, repeating the procedures couples of time.

Satisfied with the mud-free body, the redhead poured a shampoo on her and massaged into the fur. Because they didn't have any cat shampoo in the house, Kidd had to use the mildest shampoo he could find in the shower room.

In this case, Luffy's strawberry scented shampoo was definitely the best option.

As he rubbed the shampooed fur together with Luffy, Kidd made sure not to get the hair product from reaching the face, ears and nose.

Kidd rinsed the shampoo thoroughly so no residue was left out since human shampoo might irritate the skin. Once clean enough, the mechanic finally shut off the water and hook the shower head back up.

"Bring me hair dryer." The older instructed as he kept a firm hold on the kitten by the scruff of her neck. If he hadn't done that, the wet ball of fur might try to claw or bite him.

Instantly, Luffy jogged towards his brother's bedroom and Kidd used the time to open the cabinet under the sink, pulling out one of the neatly folded towels. He covered her in the cotton fabric to blot the excess water and left the bathroom with the kitten in his hands.

By the time Luffy finally managed to locate the hair dryer, Kidd was already waiting in the living room, his hands busy dabbing the calico's fur until she was deemed a little dryer than before. Without further command from his brother, the boy already knew what to do.

He connected the appliance to the nearest power supply and flicked the switch. After handing the dryer into Kidd's awaiting hand, the younger joined his brother to sit on the floor along with the damp kitten. While Luffy petted the calico's head, the redhead turned on the hair dryer and immediately set it to appropriate temperature.

The sudden gush of warm air running through her fur caught the cat's attention, making her ears to become more erect as though she was ready to investigate the mystery behind the air blower machine. Kidd ignored the sudden change of the body language and continued to point the dryer all over the calico's fur. Convinced that she was dry enough, the redhead turned off the air blower and sat it on the coffee table.

The previous damp, mud stained kitten now replaced by a puffy fur ball.

Dropping the puffy calico into his brother's laps, Kidd watched as she nuzzled into Luffy's tummy, before standing on her hind legs, paws trying to reach the boy's face.

"You need to give her a name, Luffy." Kidd spoke to his brother who was smoothing down the fur so the cat wouldn't look like she just got electrocuted.

Puzzled, the boy gave a confused frown. "…Name?"

"Yeah, name." The man repeated. "We can't keep calling her 'hey' or 'kitty'. Just think of something simple."

Few minutes went by, yet Luffy still couldn't come up with a name for the cat and he was now starring intently at the calico as though he was trying to communicate with the feline. It must had been his first time naming animal. Truth to be told, Kidd was looking forward of what sort of name his brother would have in mind.

"Nami." All of sudden, Luffy spoke.

For some reason, the redhead couldn't help but to blink at the human-like name. At least it wasn't snowflakes or snowball or even fluffy.

To confirm the name his brother had suggested, Kidd repeated. "Nami?"

Luffy nodded. "Uhuh. Nami."

And the kitten rubbed her face with Luffy's when the boy lowered his head as though to inform them in a kitty way that she couldn't agree more with her soon-to-be name.

Painted nails scratched the multicolored neck as the cat continued to push her head against Luffy's cheek. "Nami is a great name."

Pulling his hand back, Kidd patted his denim covered legs to get rid of any fly over fur. "So Luffy, what do you want for dinner? Does pizza sound alright?"

The boy only bobbed his head in agreement while his eyes zeroed in on Nami's swishing tail, wondering if he should catch the appendage.

This was the first time Kidd ever saw his brother looked so animated towards something and he began to consider that bringing the kitten home was a good idea after all. The man stretched his legs as far as he could before standing up from the carpeted floor.

"I'm going to start making Nam—I mean, the pizza now."

Oh damn, he really needed to stop getting himself confused between the calico and pizza or a certain ball of fur might really end up in the oven one of these days.

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N I have to admit, I really did enjoy writing this chapter since there're many humor-ish part especially among the mechanics. **

**p/s/s : And for those who wish to review this chapter, please do so while logging in (if you guys have an account). It's hard for me to reply when some of your ask me questions and stuff. .**


	7. The Man With Scars

**Chapter 7: The Man With Scars**

**A/N: Many of you guys have been asking me if the green haired boy from the previous chapter is Zoro. Of course it's Zoro! Who else in this entire world has green hair like marimo? XDD**

**P/S: I'm EXTREMELY ECSTATIC with the amount of reviews I received for last chapter. Thank you and lots of hugs and kisses for you guys! And biggest apology for those who I failed to reply. .**

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Today's evening routine was slightly off coursed than the usual. Instead of heading straight home from picking up Luffy from school, the brothers strayed from their usual route towards the many street shops in the center of the town. After many false turns, they finally stood in front of their destination.

'Pet's Kingdom'. So the sign read.

It was just as the name suggests. A pet shop with red as the theme color.

Kidd dug a small paper out of his pocket and studied it. The handwriting was neat and could be read easily, in contrast with his rugged appearance.

Seeing Luffy standing on his tip toes to see whatever written inside the small piece of paper, Kidd lowered the list so the boy could see each and every items written inside.

"These are for Nami." The redhead said as he placed his hand gently at the back of Luffy's head. "We can't let her sleep in towel and drink milk forever. For now, we're going to buy necessary stuffs first. Bed, her food, litter box… things like that."

When the younger bobbed his head in agreement, Kidd took the smaller hand into his and together, they walked into the shop.

Almost in instant, Kidd choked on his own breath.

This place is too big to be a pet shop! It was like a combination of two corner and three intermediate lots! Are they even allowed to run shop this big when it was only for animals?

Inside, since the shop is bloody huge, it consist of numerous sections according to the type of the animal—rabbits, hamsters, fishes, parrots, chinchillas, lizards, tarantulas, etc—and everything related to the animal needs were all lumped together in that perspective section. Although there were no dogs or cats being sold in the store, but the food, supplies, toys and accessories are still being provided.

If having animals and selling supplied weren't enough, the store even provided in store services like nutritional advice, free health check, grooming saloon, etcetera.

At some point, it reminded Kidd of a zoo. Except that the animals were being pampered like newborn babies.

The hold on Luffy's hand became firmer, as though the man was afraid the guinea pigs might burst out of the glass cage and attack his brother in feral state. Quickly, Kidd guided his brother towards the cat section. All the while, the man noticed the nut brown orbs would linger on several spots where the animals were displayed.

_Whatever you do Luffy, please oh please don't glue your eyes on iguana or snake. Or anything that has scales._

Much to the mechanic's relieve, the section specialized for cats wasn't located at the far end of the shop because Kidd was most certain he didn't have any desire to know what other beasts dwelled inside. There could be ancient or mystical creature like phoenix and dinosaur for all he knew.

The first aisle in the cat section went under the food category. From dry food, canned food, to powdered milk replacement for kittens. Different type of brands all assembled in a perfect order.

Hand to God, Kidd couldn't be more surprises at the variety of the cat's food. Even each of the cans and biscuits has different flavor.

Really, do cats even care about flavors? As long its smell meaty and taste yummy, then they're good to go, right…?

Kidd stared hard at the canned food in front of him where the pictures of adult cats and kittens only stared back at him. Somehow he felt the more he stared at them, the more he felt these felines wanted to pounce him.

Of course, his phone then picked this particular moment to ring, startling the crap out of him when he was having an intense mind battle with the airtight tinplates. Kidd fished out his phone and frown.

Because the name displayed on the screen spelled 'Perv-Salom'.

"Luffy."

The said boy looked up at his brother.

"I need to take this call outside, wait here okay?" When his brother muttered his confirmation word of 'okay', Kidd sat on his heels so Luffy's attention would be hundred percent on him. "Stay here until I get back. Don't move around even if you hear the animals call your name. I'll be back in a minute."

_Because if you get lost again, I'll be throwing another crazy fit in this shop._

After smoothing down the fly away strands on Luffy's raven head, Kidd stood and left his brother behind. Given that the cat section was close to the entrance, his fear for Luffy to suddenly disappear in midair minimized by seventy percent. For another thirty percent, it was for the probability of kidnapping, which Kidd was sure won't be happening in this world since the redhead was standing just right by the entrance. If there's anyone look suspicious enough leaving the store, he would tossed that person into the tiger cage.

Act first, think later.

Plus, there should be at least one or two tiger cages in there, considering the amount of animals that occupied the shop, yes?

While waiting for Kidd to come back, Luffy attempted to entertain himself by reading the labels on the series of cat food. The images of the cat used on the label varied with the brands displayed. There's a cat with funny curled ears, a pure white furred cat with blue eyes, a bobtailed cat, a cat with an inverted 'v' facial pattern that extends from mouth to whiskers tufts and many more.

Ever so slowly, the nut brown orbs darted away from the food aisle and stopped at the special bunny village where guinea pigs and rabbits could be seen hopping around. Luffy bit his inner cheek, itching to glomp at the fury animals—the bunny with teddy bear look, the small, feisty bunny with heads shapes like apple, the short haired guinea pig with a swirl on the forehead and even the one with long curly coat.

He secretly wondered if they are all soft and fluffy like cotton candy the blond guy brought to their apartment, or even like yarn.

Unnoticed by the animated child, another newcomer had already joined Luffy on the same aisle. It was just one of his regular visits to the store to buy food supplies for the animals back at his place.

"…Huh…" The newcomer muttered, his interest piqued. The child who was standing in front of the cat food aisle looked like someone who was ready to dive into the bunny house and squeeze the life out of those hopping cotton balls. If the little boy was born with a tail, the man was sure it would be swishing from side to side by now, a playful warning saying 'I'm going to get you, so look out!'

It was a rather fitting image actually, since the kid was in the middle of cat section. The feline personality might have rubbed him off.

Acting on impulse, the newcomer approached the boy from the side.

"Hey, there."

The effects of his sudden greeting weren't as he expected.

In instant, the child froze from whatever he was doing. Those previous playful and child-like body language now straightened up before the boy spun on his heels only to gaze back at the kitten canned food.

The man tilted his head slightly to the side, shoving his hand into the pocket of his knee length trousers. This child really was a puzzle. One second he seemed sparkling, the next second it was an entire different story. The boy practically ignored his arrival as if he was… dangerous. Uhuh. As if he was dangerous and the child simply didn't want to attract his attention.

"Food for your kitten?" Said the newcomer as he took the steps necessary to place himself near but not too close that could cause discomfort. He feared the child might freak out and ran away.

On the inside, Luffy could feel his heart thumping madly against his ribcage. This—this person who came out of nowhere, what was his intention? At first, he ignored the man presence in hope that the stranger would somehow comprehend that he didn't want to talk to him. Much to his horror, not only the man didn't get his message, but he was dangerously approaching closer. Or perhaps he did get it but chose to ignore the message instead.

"You know…" The man's cheer never flagged. "There are a lot of cats and kittens too back at my place."

At the word kitten, he noticed the child's head perked up. Somehow, the man couldn't stop the smirk from pulling the corner of his mouth. "There is one guy with spots all over his body including his belly and looked exactly like a leopard. Then there's one with wiry fur and a funny scowling face, and another one with super round head and chubby cheeks and I also have a cat that have raccoon tail, all long and fluffy."

With a deliberate slowness, the boy finally turned his head and looked up at the man. Wine red eyes met a timid, yet innocent nut brown.

Just for a second, Luffy felt his eyes enlarged at the image of the person before him. Standing a couple of feet taller than him, the man possessed red hair, deep, rich in color like rosewood, slightly different with Kidd's bright, crimson one. Appeared at his early thirty, the boy couldn't help but to notice the three diagonal scars across his left eyes, marring the dark skin of his face.

And his dressing seemed so… casual—brown trousers cut just below the knee, a pair of sandals and a white shirts that only buttoned halfway.

His smile too, was another thing. It was gentle as his eyes, reminding him of a warm summer day where lukewarm sensation of heat swept through his body, kissing every inch of his cold skin only to free him from any fatigues or negative energy. Some people might found the man's never ending cheer wearying, but for Luffy, who had just emerged from the dark, secluded world, he couldn't resist from adoring such sun.

The child in front of him, only stood still, looking all dazed and absorbing him in detail. He wondered if there was something weird on his face.

"And the kittens are all like a full charge car battery. They keep on rocketing around and knock over knickknacks and other stuffs. And last week, one of the kittens actually got his head stuck inside my favorite vase and in the end, I had to smash the vase myself!"

By the time the man finished delivering his kittens story, although he was still keeping his distance, the boy looked much relaxed than before as he got engrossed with his feline's tale.

"So, tell me," Said the scarred man as he bent his body and let his palms rest over his knees so the child wouldn't have to crane his neck so much. "How old is your kitten?"

The boy made no indication to answer, nor did he show any sign of hearing the question. Even so, the wine-eyed man waited patiently at the child lack of respond. He made the boy to acknowledge him and he wasn't about to give up. That wasn't simply in his nature.

For a solid minute, the raven-haired child maintained with his trademark motionless stance. Then, to the man's confusion, the boy brought his hands up to his chests level and created a gap between his small palms.

"Nami is this big."

The stranger eyebrow rose slightly in astonishment before he recomposed himself and stood up. The way the child intended on telling him the age of his kitten was really interesting. Of course kids don't know how old their kittens would be, or bother with it. All that matter was if the cat looks big, then they're adult cats, if small, then they're baby cats.

Hmm… Still, they are another way to find out.

"Is your kitty still wobbling when she walks?"

The boy shook his head.

"Hhmm… how about baby teeth? Does she have them?"

As Luffy stared at his gapping palms, he made a speculative thinking. By baby teeth, did this person mean the small teeth inside Nami's mouth that he noticed everytime she mewed? There were small canine teeth and some more at the front and back of her mouth.

And Luffy nodded in confirmation.

"All of them? Front and side?"

Another nod.

"Did she try to be an acrobat? Jumping from high places?"

Looking back, Nami had yet to leap from any high places. Last night, she had refused to jump off from the couch and instead, gave an earth shattering mews. It was simply a universal message that she wanted to follow him to the kitchen but was too afraid to jump from that particular height.

This time, Luffy shook his head at the man's question.

The man remained quiet for a moment, lost in his thought. Right hand on placed on his hip while the other settled on his chin, the scarred man rubbed his short scruffy beard before he spoke, "I was thinking she's three months old or higher because she has all her teeth but since you said, she hasn't showed her acrobatic prowess, then it's safe to say that she's only seven or eight weeks old."

Then the man clapped his hand together once. "Well, if that's the case…" His eyes scanned around the food aisle before they settled on the second shelve from above. Reaching out his hand, the stranger grabbed the yellow, sealed paper bag while his other hand snatched one of the canned food, just below the shelve. Once they were in his firm grip, the man brought both can and packet down on Luffy's eye level.

"Now that your kitten has grown her teeth, you can start feeding her with solid food, dry or wet. Usually I feed them with canned food several times a day but at the same time, I leave the biscuits in their bowl so they can nibble on them whenever they want. These are one of the brands I always buy for those little guys at home and they totally love it. They'll chew my fingers off if they don't smell this in their bowl! Quite a picky little furry aliens."

Cautiously, Luffy took the packet of dry food and the green and red stripes can into his hand. Dark orbs lingered on the front image on the packet—two white and orange spotted kittens munching on the biscuits placed inside a small bowl.

Then he flipped the packet to examine the writing on the back of the packaging.

'_Nurture your kitten with lots of love and our complete nutrition. Rich in flavor, protein and other nutrients like those found in mother's milk. Our formula encourages a healthy appetite and helps fuel healthy brain and body development. Here are some of the ingredients in our formula—'_

While the boy scanned the back of the paper packaging word by word, the older male couldn't help but to think what an odd, yet interesting child he had met today. To see a small kid like him reading the ingredients and the instructions on the back of cat food wrapping, it certainly wasn't an everyday picture. Once in a while, the raven haired boy would scrunch his eyebrows up, probably due to the usage of scientific terms such as phosphorus and Docosahexaenoic Acid.

"Here."

Startled when there was a medium sized bottle that read 'Powdered Milk Replacement for Kittens' dangling in front of his face, Luffy inched back so the container wouldn't bump against his nose.

"She probably doesn't need milk anymore, but just to be on the safe side. Even if she doesn't, she's going to enjoy it anyway. Don't give her cow milk or any kind of milk that we drink. It's a big no-no~~" The man said the last two words with a sing song voice.

Luffy shot a questioning look.

"Because it can make them sick and give them tummy-ache."

Revelation hit him like an avalanche, so powerful Luffy felt his heart speed up to an impossible rate. On impulse, he took few deep breaths to cater sufficient oxygen for his screaming lungs. Cow's milk a big no-no? But Nami was fed with that precise milk since she looked famished last night. So, then…

"This is the kind of milk made especially for cats and—" The man paused his ramble when he noticed the slight changes in the child's expression.

"Oohh… you fed her with regular milk…?" He asked carefully.

Slowly, Luffy nodded as his eyes remained downcast.

"For how long?"

Small fingers fiddled with the edge of the food packet. A typical action when someone was extremely nervous. "Last night."

"And that's it?"

The following head bob drew a relieve sigh from the man. "Then, you don't have to worry about it. If it's only once or twice, it shouldn't harm her. But don't give her any of those milks after this, okay?"

Exactly when panic almost gave itself away, the sensation dispersed almost instantly when Luffy saw the man's reassurance smile. Like a teacher always did in a way to tell his students that they haven't done anything wrong that worth punishment.

Seeing how the tense shoulders now loosened up, the wine-eyed man felt it was safe to continue. "For this one, let see… you can give the milk alone or you can mash the kitten chow with it. Whichever she prefers."

Luffy grasped the container from the stranger's awaiting hand. For the next five seconds, he had a hard time juggling all three types of kitten foods in his arms, but somehow along the way, the boy discovered the most effective means to hold all of them without dropping any. The two biggest—the packet of biscuit and the milk container—he held them close to his chests using his arms as leverage while his right hand clutched firmly on the canned food.

"You ok there, little guy? Want any help?" The older male inquired as he observed the child who looked like he was juggling the cat foods in his hands while standing on a circus ball. But all the items seemed secured in those small arms and the child gave a delicate head shake.

"Luffy?"

At the recognizable, rough voice of his brother, Luffy jutted out his head to find Kidd's exact location. From the sound of it, it seemed to be coming from the beds and furniture aisle or the cat bowls aisle.

"Is that you being called?"

"Yeah." Luffy answered simply, still craning his neck to find his brother. It's no use. Especially when the shelf was foots higher than him.

The child was unaware his attempts to locate his guardian was too adorable to be handle by other adults. He stuck out his neck, tiptoed, hopped on one foot and later scrunched up his brows when the person he was searching for still not within his eyesight. Behind him, the man could hear the lady customers cooing over the boy's actions.

"Better run along then." The man finally said while fighting the sniggers that were about to burst out. A foolish idea, really. If he failed to constrain his trademark laugh, animals would start hissing and go rampaging, children would scurrying around to hide behind their parents and the shop helpers might asked him to leave. He had done it before and it wasn't a sugar coating memory at all.

On agreement with the suggestion, Luffy started to stride away but when he reached the end of the aisle, he stopped and slowly turned on his heels to face the scarred man.

"Thank you." And with that, Luffy proceeded and turned around the corner before the man could even respond.

The man blinked. Once. Twice. Before he let out small chuckles.

An interesting child indeed.

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Later that night, the brothers were seen sitting on the floor of the kitchen as they prepared the calico's meal. Earlier that evening, Nami had dutifully waited for them by the door, mewing in excitement as if she knew that Kidd had spent portion of his money for her luxuries.

Cats and their animal instinct.

Kidd watched in awed while Luffy mashed the kitty biscuits in the bowl filled with the replacement milk using a metal spoon. The younger had chosen the redhead's laps as a makeshift chair as he pulverized the chow into smaller bits.

Somehow, the mechanic felt sorry for the soulless biscuits.

Still, Kidd couldn't help but to question from where Luffy acquired the knowledge of making the concoction by mixing biscuits and milk together. It was comprehensible that his brother could prepare the milk by reading the written instruction, but to blend those two items together? Surely such instruction wasn't written anywhere on the packaging.

Today's events turned out to be rather odd for Kidd's standard. Not only Luffy had magically appeared with selections of kitten's food back at the pet store, but add to that, his brother now combining kitty chow and the milk with such confidence like it was a normal basis… it was just too much for him to cope with.

The scrunching noise continued to resonate throughout the kitchen. The man had wanted to offer his help, but seeing the determination look on Luffy while he massacred the innocent chow and drowned them into the milk, Kidd sealed his mouth shut.

Satisfied with the smashed kibbles, Luffy stirred the crumbs together with the white liquid. Soon enough, the porridge-like mixture was ready and the boy placed the bowl on the feeding platform. Nami didn't wait any sign of approval and immediately gobbled down her dinner. The feeding bowl they had bought for her was the flat type, so it would be easier for her to reach the food. Aside from the bowls for food and water, the set also came with a feeding platform to keep the food off the floor and makes the process of cleaning up much easier.

Sitting crossed legs on the floor, Kidd turned his attention towards the child on his laps. "Where did you learn that?"

"Hn?" Hummed the boy. It was simply a general way to say that he didn't perceive his brother's question.

"The biscuit and milk smashing thing. Where did you learn how to do that?"

Luffy shifted his weight to lean his back more against Kidd's torso and extended his foot so his big toe could brush against the tip of Nami's tail. "The man with scars told me."

Slightly annoyed, the calico's reaction towards the tail flicking was to curl her tail to the other side where the child's toe couldn't get her. It was too obvious she didn't like to be interrupted during her meal time.

"Hm." Kidd watched as Nami pawed her own nose to get rid of the moistened biscuits that clung on her snout. "Want to have your drink now?"

"Uhuh." Once the boy voiced out his word of confirmation, Kidd sneaked an arm under his brother's thighs and hefted him slightly off his laps only to place Luffy gently on the floor. The small frame squirmed when the coldness of the tiled floor bit into his skin. Of course, Luffy WAS wearing his pants this time. But the thin pajama bottom still couldn't prevent the cold sensation from penetrating through the cotton fabric.

As Luffy tried to make himself comfortable on the floor, Kidd headed towards countertop that placed the scroll design mug holder and grabbed Luffy's personal mug—white in color except for the lip and handle which are colored with maroon along with the image of Wubba Monster printed on both left and right side of the mug.

The redhead opened one of the top cabinet drawers and pulled out two airtight tins filled with chocolate powder—the old world drinking chocolate for Luffy and the mint chocolate for himself.

Using a metal spoon, Kidd scooped a full table spoon of the chocolate powder and dumped it into Luffy's Wubba Monster mug. Just when the spoon dove into the powder for the second batch, the mechanic halted and turned so suddenly towards Luffy that his elbow almost collided with the mug.

"…The man with scars?"

With his interest more on Nami's action of licking up her paws in order to clean her face and nose, the child was unaware of his brother incredulous look. "Yup."

Hand still stuck inside the tin, Kidd could only stare at the younger, mouth slightly agape. Deep inside, he wasn't sure which was more horrifying. The image of Luffy stroking a very large, hairy arachnid, namely tarantula…

…or the image of a scarred man teaching his brother how to pulverize kitty chows into pulp.

Kidd felt a little quiver reached down into his innards and shook things up. He stared at Nami's now empty bowl for a while, then at Luffy before he turned back, eyeing the red tinted cabinet in front of him.

"I think I'm going to need coffee tonight. Lots and lots of caffeine."

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N : Anyone can guess who's the scarred man? If the answer is wrong I'm sooooo going to pulverize you! XDD. Anyway, so far, I've only been adopting adult cats but not kittens, so I'm not that expert when it comes to kitten care. In fact, I had to do research from internet to gather as much information as I could while writing this chapter. So for the kitten expert out there, do forgive me if any of the info turns out to be incorrect. *quiver*quiver***


	8. Introducing Ace

**Chapter 8: Introducing Ace**

**A/N: The update is quite behind the schedule, but you should understand why . . And since Ace plays a major part in Luffy's life (in OP), so I've decided to make him as one of the major character here. Enjoy, my crime fighters!**

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Paw once, paw twice, and then leap!

Swish tail once, swish tail twice and then chase!

Shake bum once, shake bum twice, and then bite!

Above was the rhythm of Nami's behavior for the past half an hour ever since Luffy introduced the squeaking cat toy to her. It was a mouse doll made from Hessian, filled with natural catnip and attached on the end of a long string. Connected to the other side of the string was a finger band with a small button. Everytime the small button was pressed, a realistic mouse squeak made by an electronic sound module would be released from the toy.

As the redhead sat on the couch, Kidd watched his brother waved his hand to get the mouse doll move around and everytime he did it, the calico kitten would leap, run and pounce on the imaginary prey. Long to short, the toys he bought were just another method to fuel Nami's natural hunting instinct and to vent pent-up energy.

In his mind, play time is essential to Nami. Because when she's wasn't playing, she's practically everywhere! In the shoes, under the bed, behind the t.v, and she leaped and bounded all over the place. One moment she was an eating machine, and the next moment she would be a bundle of energy and then continued to being a snoozing fur ball. And the circle carried on.

Kidd took another sip of his canned drink as he flipped the channel for the umpteenth time. Nothing on the t.v seemed interesting enough at this hour. Sighing, the redhead turned his attention back at the child sitting on the carpeted floor. This time, Luffy waved his hand higher, bringing the toy mouse with him. The action only encouraged the energetic kitten and without a second thought, Nami too, leaped upward towards the catnip filled doll. Then, she swiveled her body mid air as she fell down and like a pro, she managed to land on all four feet.

Cats really are a fascinating creature, Kidd had to admit it. They are tiny but warm, they purrs, they don't hog the cover and they demanded nothing from you. Except for attention, of course. But along the way also comes the annoying habits. Plenty of them. The most basic one was the ankles chasing game where she would hide under the sofa or behind the cabinet and when you passed by, she ambushed your unprotected ankles. Although her teeth and claws are still tiny, but it was enough to make him yelled "holy shit!" for every time Nami took a piece of his skin in between her teeth.

Even worse when she started treating your legs as the scratching post.

Another mysterious habit of the calico was her absolute need to lay down on whatever reading material he had in front of him. The newspaper, the magazine and even the cookbook. At first, Nami would come while sashaying her hips in a cutest manner, purring and nuzzling her body and face against his legs. When she saw the guard was down, then bam! She already flopped down on the magazines before Kidd could even blink twice, rolling over on her back for a belly scratch.

Next on the list would be the staring part. In which she would stare intensely at a spot, preferably a dark area and keeping a sentry for a very long period, leaving anyone completely convinced there are supernatural things going on in the house. Of course, it wasn't like him to believe in ghost or anything.

Right…

It got even spookier when Luffy joined in the paranormal activity and stared at the dark spot together with the calico.

Then comes the kneading. Really, why does Nami have to knead everything that seemed soft to her? When he means soft, he means items like the towel, comforter, pillow, and your laps and believe it or not, even your hair. He had caught her red-handedly (or is it red pawed-ly?) a couple of time, pressing her front paws in turns against his hair while he was taking an afternoon nap on the couch. And Luffy had asked him once about that typical behavior and his answer was simple:

"Hmm… it's nothing. Nami's only making biscuits."

Ooh, the things he would do to see the face his brother made that time again. It was too priceless.

Of course, no one could disregard this one, which will be the feeding session. When she was desperate for food and he was going to feed her—Nami would walk very slowly in front of him to make sure he doesn't change his mind, making him trip everytime. Feeding time for him was more like a tap dance session. The only missing item is the tap shoes.

Nami's annoying yet adorable kitten behaviors went uninterrupted… until one day.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx **

For how long the morning sunlight been fallen through the thin gap of the blue, percale curtain, the child had no answer to that. By the time Luffy had finally aware of it, the single beam of orange sunlight already found his face and spread across his bed. His toes curled and his fingers twitched at the natural wakeup alarm.

Like any other normal boys would do, Luffy tried to ignore the piercing light by hiding his face under the comforter and curled on his side. Hidden beneath the cover, the eight year old then wrapped himself inside the makeshift cocoon, the edges all tucked under to avoid even the tiniest crack of light. Somewhere beyond the closed door, the distinctive clacking sounds were starting to make themselves noticeable. It only meant one thing.

Kidd had started to make breakfast.

After a moment or two passed, the lump finally shifted as the child wiggled himself free from the cocoon. Once the head poked through the opening, Luffy sat up, rubbing his knuckles into his bleary eyes to chase away the slumber and yawned. Short, raven haired stuck up in lazy, unruly spikes. Blue comforter still draped over his small back indicating the child had arisen while on his stomach.

The effect from the sandman's magic dust was still present, but little Luffy forced his frame to glide away from the cozy bed and stood up. He stretched up his body, making a long 'uhhnnn' sound while at it for a solid five seconds. Then he turned back towards his unmade bed—comforter bundled on the center of the bed with sheet crumpled like ocean wave.

Kidd had once, or maybe a couple of time told him that it's alright to leave his bed unmade during weekend. Still, he couldn't stop his hands from at very least, smoothing the wrinkled sheet and readjusted the pillow so his bed wouldn't look so…disarray. Like someone had just wrestled down a six hundred pounds black bear on the mattress.

Satisfied with the less messy bed, the raven haired boy finally paced across the room and exited. But instead of going straight to the kitchen, Luffy headed to the living room where the calico should be at time like this. He took a peek at Nami's red polka dot donut bed next to the sofa.

It was empty.

Then he looked at the scratching post at the corner of the room.

Zilch.

Nut brown eyes scanned all over the room but a multicolored fur ball still couldn't be spotted.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Two pancakes, a sausage patty, egg and a slice cheese—all arranged on top of each other to make it looked more like a sandwich. After all, it was to compliment the name of the dish—Sausage-cheese pancake Sandwiches.

Kidd placed two plates on the table, each serving the same dishes. With spatula still in his right hand, the redhead strode to the living room where he knew Luffy would most probably be there. Ever since they got Nami, playing with the calico was like a routine morning exercise for the child. That's why he wasn't surprise at all to see the younger sitting on the carpeted floor, but what confused him was the pose Luffy was presenting.

On his hands and knees, Luffy had his butt raised up in the air while his head planted flat on the floor, eyes fixated on the gap between light cappuccino tv cabinet and the floor.

His left eyebrow joined his right. "Luffy?"

The man's call was met with unrecognizable mumbling and he interpreted the respond to mean that Luffy was in fact acknowledged him, but too busy with whatever the task was to answer him properly.

"…What are you doing?" Kidd inquired as he closed the distance and kneeled next his brother.

"Nami…" The child muttered and slowly pushed himself up. "… She doesn't want to come out."

To emphasize his point, Luffy started making clicking noises, beckoning the kitten to him. But after a few attempts, multicolored fur ball had yet to leap out from the dark space. The result they received was only a weak mew from underneath the cabinet.

Now that didn't sound right, especially for the bouncing calico. With his existing frame, Kidd had the difficulty to peak at the small gap but clearly something was wrong with Nami. So instead, he moved to the side of the cabinet and using the chest and the triceps muscles of the arms, Kidd pushed the cabinet. With sufficient force, the furniture shifted enough to reveal the subject of his brother's worry.

Curled on the floor, the calico gave another set of weak mew. Luffy immediately crawled over to the kitten side and gently stroked the soft fur but the reaction Nami gave didn't meet their expectation. Just a soft pants, accompanied by another strained mew. And that's all. No leaping, no nuzzling and definitely no rubbing against the leg.

When Kidd gently picked the small fur ball up, he felt the muscles twitched in his hands and Nami's body seemed to be warmer than the usual. He walked towards the donut bed and placed her down on the fleece cushion. As soon as her body landed on the soft bedding, Nami curled her body back, the soft panting sound was still there.

"I wonder what's wrong with her…" The mechanic muttered and took a glance at his brother. The child had his brows furrowed in concern and pursed his lips.

"Hey…" Kidd pulled his brother's attention away from the limping calico. "Don't worry too much. We'll bring Nami to see the vet after this."

"Vet…?" Luffy questioned meekly. Sure he had heard such term, but somehow he forgot the function of this called 'vet'.

Kidd combed the boy's hair with his pale fingers, flatting down the stuck up strands so Luffy wouldn't look like a black puma that had just woken up from twelve hours of slumber. "Yup. They are a special doctor for animals. I'm sure they'll know what's wrong with Nami."

"Then Nami will get better…?"

"Sure she will." The older gave a reassurance smile. In his head, Kidd made a mental note to search in the internet for the nearest available vet clinic right after this. "C'mon, wash your face first. We'll take her to the vet after breakfast, hhnn?"

Luffy could only nod in agreement. Anything as long it could bring Nami to her old self back.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx **

At 9.30 a.m on Saturday, the brothers stood in front of the corner house of West Blue Road. They weren't here to visit the house though. Their main focus to be exact was the vet clinic that was attached to the house, situated on the ground floor of the double storey building. The exterior of the house plus clinic was painted with ashwood color while the windowsills dyed with bison brown and strawberry licorice for the door, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Kidd read the sign for the second time or perhaps third time of the day.

'Red Hair Veterinary Clinic'

At first, his left eyebrow rose up due to the clinic's confusing name. It has the words 'hair' and 'vet' on the same signboard. So was this place really a veterinary or a… saloon? But since there was an image of paws printed at the corner of the signboard, Kidd had no other choice but to convince himself that this place was indeed a vet. Next, his right eyebrow joined the left due to the fact that the clinic was so fucking close to their apartment because it actually took them less than ten minutes to arrive. To make the matter worse, they even went by this road everyday—morning and evening.

So how come he had never noticed there's a vet this close to them, sitting there at the corner of the road like a content cucumber?

Just another mystery of the day.

From what he read from the clinic website, this was a private clinic owned by Dr. Shanks assisted by a couple of nurses. Since it was a small veterinary, the services offered are similar to other animal hospital, except for major surgery—preventative and wellness care, hospitalization and minor surgery—there is even a private car park provided to the rear of the building access via West Blue Road.

The man could only hope that whatever sickness that struck Nami wasn't a life-threatening that requires a visit to a major animal hospital.

With a sunset orange cat carrier in his left hand, the redhead placed his palm over the door and pushed. In instant, the mechanical door chime rang, a pleasant sound echoed throughout the room. Kidd held the door for a while, long enough for Luffy to enter the house a.k.a vet clinic.

The interior of the clinic wasn't less charming. It was a country style with the paint and wood cabinet combination, creating an easy to live in mood—goldenrod walls with almost all the cabinets are rosewood in color, adding the room warm color notes. A simple paprika-colored shade could draw anyone's eyes up to the window.

Give someone a cowboy hat, boots and a banjo, this entire place would definitely feel like a country house in the middle of summer.

Someone was at the receptionist table who had her face buried into a newspaper and once their upcoming footsteps was coming closer and clearer, the receptionist finally eased down the paper.

To Kidd mild surprise, the receptionist wasn't a 'she' after all, but a 'he'. Based on typical knee length white coat worn by the man, it was safe to assume he was one of the doctors operating the veterinary. In fact, he was pretty damn sure the man was the owner of the clinic judging by the amount of red hair rooted on the guy's head just like the signboard suggested. [2]

The second his wine-eyes landed square on the duo, his previous neutral face contorted into what Kidd would take as a mild surprise with additional cheery effect.

"What do we have here today? If it isn't the little guy from the kitty aisle~. I have a feeling we're going to meet again but I certainly don't expect it will be this soon." The scruffy man said with a cheery grin as he folded the newspaper and placed it on the counter.

Kidd blinked, not sure he had heard right. What exactly did he mean by 'meeting again'? When he looked down at Luffy, his brother too, was wearing a stun expression on his face.

"Do you know him?" The older couldn't help but to wonder.

His respond was a tad shocking, at least to Kidd. "Um." Luffy bobbed his head. "He helped me picked Nami's food."

Again, the mechanic blinked and stared at the quirky man before him for a moment. Only when Kidd spotted the scars running across the man's eyes, he felt his heart just stopped thumping for a solid two second.

This was the 'man with scars' that taught Luffy how to pulverize the kitty chows. The small annoying voice inside him began to question regarding his decision in visiting this vet. Also, a pang of jealousy hit the mechanic like a tornado. He had taken like weeks just to get Luffy to talk to him but this man took only perhaps five minutes of his life time to get all friendly with his brother.

What is it he's got? Scars?

Too occupied in traumatizing himself, Kidd didn't realize the doctor too, was openly accessing him, his fingers laced together on the table. "Hmm… Aren't you a little young to be a father?"

At the words 'young' and 'father', the mechanic quickly snapped his attention back into present, focusing entirely on the doctor. He wasn't sure whether it was the question that made him felt uncomfortable or if it was Luffy's confusing frown. "I'm only 23 and Luffy's already 8. Do the math yourself."

As the man rubbed his short scruffy beard, he made a long humming sound. "Wow, that means you had a son at the age of fifteen."

During time like this, the redhead wished he had at least brought one or two wrenches with him so he could fling them to anyone that had a smile that pissed Kidd he most, the teasing one that oozed excitement.

"And wow to you too for the wrong as hell assumption. I'm his brother, genius." Kidd punctuated the last part with a hint of threat.

Much to his frustration, his earlier outburst was followed by yet another ear-to-ear grin. "Right… That's what they all say~"

For the next minute, the mechanic tried to memorize the procedure of replacing the car's compressor as he tried to distract himself from any nasty come back that threatened to escape through his clenching teeth.

The doctor, namely Shanks suppressed the contagious chuckles but the trembling shoulders indicating that he wasn't doing a very good job with it. This young man before him was too fiery and too fun to tease. "Well, let's have a look at your pet then."

With a deep scowl, Kidd inched forward and placed the carrier on the counter. "We don't know what's wrong with her. She was an energetic fur ball yesterday, but this morning, she looks sick and weak… and a lil' twitchy."

Shanks tapped the cage door lightly and indeed, a set of weak mews met his ears. "We'll move to the exam room." The veterinarian stood up only to call for his assistant. "Perona~!" [1]

Less than five seconds, a girl appeared from one of the back room, stomping hard on her way to the receptionist. "What is it? I told you many times not to call me with that singing voice! It's horrendous!"

Of its own violation, Kidd's eyebrows rose up to an impossible height. In contrast with the clinic's warm color scheme and country style, the girl was definitely inspired by gothic Lolita style and she wore it like a shield—a white top with a black mini skirt and striped tights covering her lags. The red buckled boots and her pink colored hair only highlighted her gothic-ness even more.

Ignoring the childish outburst, the animal doctor faced the fuming girl with a nonchalant face. "Get your butt on this chair and answer the phone calls. And don't forget to call Nefertari and tell her she can bring home her duck by this Monday."

"Eehhhh~" Her painted lips pouted as she whined. "But I don't like sitting in front, it's not cu—"

Her big, round eyes went bigger when he saw Luffy sticking close to his brother. "Aaahhhh! A super cute boy! Why didn't you tell me there's an adorable boy here Shanks!"

The assistant jumped and squealed, but her sudden change of mood and actions only made the boy to shrink more against Kidd. He flailed his hand a bit to find his brother's and when he found it, he grasped on the man's index finger, squeezing the digit. The older now know that although Luffy's wall had fall apart, but that doesn't apply to everyone. Perhaps the presence of stranger especially woman could still trigger unpleasant memories.

This could be a problem.

Aware of the child uneasiness, Shanks interrupted the squealing fit. "Stop that screaming. You're scaring him."

Whirling around, the pink haired assistant made an indignant face. "I DO NOT. I'm not like you~~to un-cute and scruffy."

"Hnnn…" It was a simply a universal message that speaks 'whatever'. "Alright you two, this way."

The doctor paid no attention to the whining fit at the receptionist table and made his way toward the exam room, setting a slow pace enough for the brothers to keep up with him. Now that Kidd finally had a full view of the doctor, he couldn't stop but to think that everything about the man before him screamed sloppy. From his untucked shirt to his brown trousers cut just below the knee and collected halfway the shin with some golden buttons down the outer leg. What nagged him the most was the floral pattern on them. A fucking flowery pattern! He wasn't sure if it's a dandelion or chrysanthemum, but it sure was weird as hell. And—and what's up with the sandals? Why choose a pair of sandals that makes a click clack noise against the hardwood floor?

If you ignore the fact that the doctor called Shanks was wearing a white coat, you would think this man just came back from a beach or some sort of summer island, surrounded by sand, nude girls and coconut milk shakes.

Long story to short, the animal doctor in front of him was a total odd ball. Perhaps the word enigma fit the man better. Just how many doctors out there wear this type of lazy attire and walked around like he owned the goddamn clinic?

Zero. Exactly his point.

And he IS the owner of the vet too, stupid Eustass.

As he muttered a string of 'stupid' and 'dumb-damn-ass' under his breath, Kidd settled the carrier on the dark brown exam table. Crimson eyes once again darted all over the room to take in his surroundings. Still upholding the cozy color scheme, the wall for the exam room was splashed with the color of a field of wheat, keeping the room casually comfortable.

Well, at least the man has a good taste in color.

The doctor didn't wait any sign of approval and immediately opened the carrier door. With ease, he scoped the kitten inside and gently transferred her out from the dim, confined space.

"Is this the infamous Nami? And oh, it's a she. But of course, all calicos are she! There isn't any tom-calico out there, right? Dahahahahaha!" Shanks cackled at his own realization.

As soon as the contagious, unique laughter echoed throughout the clinic, series of barks, cat's hiss and thumping noises that came from the other room immediately followed after. Both brothers jolted in surprise at the blood curdling noises the animals creating. On instinct, Kidd tugged Luffy toward him and held the child closer. The mechanic had a wild imagination that all the cats in the clinic room were pushing their ears down, barring their fangs and squinting their slivered eyes while hissing. The sound and body language itself resembled another fearsome animal.

The serpent.

At some point, Kidd could swear the cute felines were practically hissing 'cooobraaa!' although he couldn't see them under his naked eyes.

"Don't worry about that." The veterinarian waved his hand, unconcerned. "They always do that whenever I laugh. The same thing happened when I visited the zoo once. I was laughing hysterically and the next thing I knew all the baby monkeys was screaming, the rhinos bulldozing the cage, even the animals that's not python could hiss at me. And the tigers were all ready to pounce on me like I'm some kind of an enemy. Can you believe that? Dahahahahaha!"

Another set of 'Mrrrooooww' drawn out. This time, it sounded demonic enough as though the noise was emanated from the very bowels of hell itself. And Luffy reacted to the hissing noise by burying his face into his brother's stomach.

Shanks turned to the opened door and let out an offended shout. "Ooohh, come on! I need to let loose once in a while too, you know!" Clearly he was referring to the animals at the recovery room.

Instead of hearing another animals screech, a tall and slim, with short straight cut blond woman suddenly appeared at the doorway, a clipboard in her hand. Dissimilar with the girl called Perona, this one had the decency to wear normal nurse attire, blue in color.

"Dr. Shanks, if you don't stop with the trademark laughter, I will throw all the clipboards in this clinic straight into your head." Free from any smile, the blond woman gave an impassive look with her doll-like eyes.

Somehow, she reminded Kidd of the old Luffy.

The doctor flinched at the cold tone. "Don't get too cranky, Cindry. I was only lightening up the mood."

Always with her rebellious nature, the nurse inched forward until they were nose to nose. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to calm the animals down everytime you let out that unbearable laugh? Some of them who just had an operation had blood burst back from the stitched wound. And who's going to clean the mess up, fix and redressed them all? Me and Perona only, while you sit in front of the porch strumming your annoying banjo and sipping the watermelon juice. Maybe I should open all the cages right now and let all the animals pounce on you. How does that sound?"

By the time the assistant called Cindry finished her venomous speech, Shanks was already cowering against the table. "Alright, alright, I heard you. I'll stop now."

A feeble cry snapped Shanks' attention back at the warm calico in his hand. He hadn't realized throughout Cindry's poisonous speech, he was holding Nami like his own dear life depending on her.

At once, the red haired doctor laid the kitten gently on the exam table. When the cool surface of the table touched her warm body, the small frame quaked slightly and she let another weak mew.

"Shhhh…. It's okay, it's okay." As the man made a hushing sound, he gently prodded all over the calico with his fingers.

"She's warm alright… A little twitchy like you said… and I don't feel any lump or swell on her body." Then he shoved his hand into the front pocket of his white coat only to fish out black rimmed glasses.

After the rimmed lenses safely perched on the nose bridge, Shanks set the earpiece of the stethoscope into his ear canals. The icy cold chest piece was moved a few inches for him to listen to Nami's lungs and heart sounds. "Her heartbeat is quite rapid although she seems weak…"

While the doctor verified the symptoms, Cindry jot down on the clipboard. She glance to her left and sensed the child's extreme interest on whatever Shanks was doing to his cat, but couldn't see much due to his height and the fact that the exam table was taller than the usual for the doctor's convenient. Slowly, she moved to the corner of the room and drew one of the chairs, placing the furniture next to Luffy.

"Here. Stand on the chair so you can see better." The voice was still icy cold but somehow the tone was much more softer than the one she used on the doctor.

Deep inside, Luffy knew the blond lady and even Kidd were silently observing him. The icy cold voice made his inside to churn badly, it was too nostalgic. It wasn't that harsh, but it was far from friendly. Like it was in the middle.

Exactly like his old one. Lack of emotion and distance from everyone. He wondered if something bad… or painful happened to her.

Slowly, Luffy glanced up and made eye contact with her. And she was still gazing down at the boy, waiting. His face adapting a contemplative stare as Luffy mentally reviewed the situation. True that the nurse seemed cold, but little Luffy somehow could sense the cold stare wasn't born from hatred or disgust. Right now, he had to believe the lady in front of him would do no harm. That, and Kidd would always be there for him.

A moment or two passed and the child finally climbed on the chair. But instead of standing on the cushion, the boy opted on kneeling on it so his shoes wouldn't stain the chair. Half of his body was propped on the exam table as he shuffled closer to the calico.

Unseen by the child, a small smile tugged the corner of Cindry's thin lips.

By now, Shanks had finished examining Nami's blood pressure. "Her blood pressure appears to be low as well."

And the blond nurse made another notation on the clipboard.

"It's hard to determine her exact condition. She doesn't cough or sneeze, so flu is out of the chart. I need to do some blood test. It's the quickest and easiest way to determine her sickness and the result is more reliable"

Almost in answer to the doctor murmur, Cindry made her way toward the cabinet behind and pulled open the drawer, second from above. She rummaged the contents inside and once she was done, she returned back and handed to Shanks a thumb sized plastic container and a syringe attached to a thin tube.

"Uhn." Luffy shuddered on the chair, eyes wide in fear that the needle might hurt Nami.

The blond nurse looked at the child, practically oozing with concern but at the same time, it was masked by the doll eyes. "It won't hurt her… it's just like a mosquito bite, without the itchy bump."

"She's right." Shanks murmured as Cindry picked the calico up gently and held her head back, exposing the kitten's head for easy access to the jugular vein. "This will only take a few seconds…"

Then, the veterinarian squirt some alcohol on Nami's fur and skin to make sure that there will not be a risk for infection. He removed the cap from the needle and pulled the plunger back to remove the seal on the syringe, depressing it completely to remove the air. Bending down slightly, Shanks used the thumb of his free hand to place pressure on the kitten's vein. Since Nami is still small, it wasn't easy to locate her vein, so he needed to do this right or he might miss the vein and had to re-stick the calico again and again.

And the kitten definitely wouldn't appreciate that… or even the kid.

Once he confirmed the location of the vein, the doctor inserted the needle into the jugular vein and pulled back on the plunger using the ring and the pinky fingers. Blood slowly appeared in the syringe and Shanks breathed in relieve. At least he didn't miss the calico's vein. He continued filling the syringe, sensing the child was rubbing his own neck nervously.

Satisfied with the amount of blood, the veterinarian removed the pressure on his thumb from the vein and withdrew the needle only to be replaced by Cindry's hand pressed against the same spot, fingers equipped with alcohol-soaked cotton ball. To wrap up the blood drawing procedures, Shanks filled the plastic container with the drawn blood before tossing the used needle into the nearby bin.

After Cindry placed Nami back on the exam table, the animal doctor handed her the blood-filled tube. "Here, take this and run the tests."

Wordlessly, the blond assistant left the room, clipboard and tube in her hand.

Shanks then relocated the calico back into the carrier. "Right now, she might feel a little bit dizzy so let her rest, okay?"

In need for confirmation, Luffy peeked through the holes on the carrier and caught a glimpse of Nami snoozing inside.

"It's going to take a while before Cindry comes back with the result. I'll make some drinks while we wait. Come." Not waiting for any possible declination or second opinion, Shanks strode away and the brothers had no choice but to tag along.

They were led toward the waiting area. Spread across the room was couches, coffee tables, and some high raised chairs with equally high raised table. At the corner of the room laid a cabinet filled with refreshment for the waiting visitors.

The brothers took a sit on the sofa. Perched on the table was a seashell centerpiece. A glass bowl filled with seashells, pearls, starfish, sand and multicolor rocks and pebbles. Next to it, in which Luffy was currently poking on, was a medium size shell box. Similar to its partner, the inside was filled and decorated with sea shells, pearls, pebbles, minus the sand.

These two centerpieces only gave out some sort of costal feel and Kidd couldn't help but think of a warm beach where nude girls running around, smashing the watermelons with a deadly baseball bats.

The redhead quickly shook his head to shoo the gruesome images away.

Before he could completely remove the lingering pictures, Shanks had already arrived, tray in his hand. Taking a sit opposite to the brothers, the doctor set three glasses on the coffee table. "I made some lemonade."

Praise to deities that he didn't give them coconut juice! This sandy, summer theme was starting to drive him mad…

"This place looks more like a beach house in the middle of summer rather than a vet clinic." Kidd commented as he took a sip of the citrusy juice. A VERY big part of him was expecting animal pictures and animal dolls decorating the room, not some seashells and a banjo.

The comment made him to smile behind the glass. "The clinic is attached to the house. So basically everything here is ALSO my home, you know. And yes, I have things for summer and beach."

Then the veterinarian reached for the glass bowl and took out the orange color starfish in between his fingers. To Kidd's horror, Shanks popped the starfish into his mouth casually. Of course, he wasn't the only person who was shaken up at the man's action of eating a dried up starfish. Beside him, Luffy too, let out an 'eep' sound.

Yet, the doctor had the nerve to chuckle at the brothers' horrified expression. "Don't go screaming at me. They're chocolates. The rocks and pebbles are nuggets, the pearls are hard candies and the sand is brown sugar."

Even though the scruffy doctor took another turquoise nugget pebbles and munched on it, Kidd still looked skeptical. "C'mon, have some. But oh! Don't eat the glass and the shell box. They're the only part of the centerpiece that's non-edible."

He pushed the glass bowl toward the child. At first, Luffy was dubious at the so called edible sea shells, but seeing how the doctor was munching happily on the centerpiece, anyone could be tempted. Mimicking the scarred man, the boy chose the snail shell and nibbled on the tip. A smooth and creamy melt-in-your-mouth texture with the additional toasted nuts aroma was more than enough to convince the boy that the seashells were indeed chocolate assortments. He popped the rest of the sweet treat into his mouth hold it with his tongue to savor the milky sweet flavor.

Maybe he should save one or two of these and give them to Killer. He was positive the blond man would be surprised at the rare sweet treats.

"This is the most bizarre centerpiece I've ever seen in my whole life." The mechanic frowned slightly as Luffy dropped 8mm pearl into his opened palm. He tossed it into his mouth and a sweet and tangerine flavor immediately flooded his taste buds.

Rolling the confectionary in his mouth, Kidd scanned the room. "You don't have many workers in here, huh…"

"It's only a small clinic. Those two are more than enough to handle everything here."

"Why not open a bigger clinic? You know, one that doesn't actually attach to your own house." Inquired the redhead. This time, Luffy put a few nugget pebbles into his hand. The twenty three year old rolled the stone looking snacks in between in fingers. It seemed like Luffy was pretty much excited with the chocolate centerpiece idea. And now he practically wanted his brother to taste everything inside the bowl and the box.

Nevertheless, Kidd popped the nuggets and the pebbles were crushed under the pressure from his jaws.

Right leg crossed over the left one, the doctor took a large gulp of his lemonade. "It's for my own convenient. This way, I can do a double duty. Work and looking after my son. Just to make sure he doesn't destroy the house."

"… Your wife?" Kidd asked carefully.

"Hhmm…" The older red haired man smiled lightly, letting the half empty glass to dangle in between his fingers. "She passed away not long after my son was born. She always had a weak body even before she was pregnant. I think my son is about Luffy's age."

Kidd nodded in respond. Wow, this is sort of… awkward. It was one of those moments where you didn't want to give any remark in fear that it might trigger something unpleasant. Sad memories would be a good example.

Saved by the grace, the blond nurse had returned from the lab room. An indication that she had finished with the lab work and holding the life and death result. She gave the result paper to the veterinarian and Shanks didn't waste a second to analyze the findings.

Wine-eyes examined the paper contents starting from top. "Iron level normal… protein level normal… Cholesterol level normal…M-hm" Shanks mumbled, still scanning the results.

"… theobromine… ooh?" The doctor looked intrigued. His finger tapped the side of his chin, deep in thought before searching for the specific term in the paper. "High sugar level…"

From the paper, the veterinarian zeroed in at the chocolates filled glass bowl. There was a long pause in which Kidd interpreted as a bad sign.

"Did you ever give Nami chocolate? Perhaps last night? Or if she accidentally rummaged through your snack cabinet and ate some?" The doctor asked as he gazed at the brothers.

The questions seemed to throw the mechanic off balance, so he decided to answer the doctor with yet another question. "Why do you ask?"

"It says here…" Shanks started as he eyed on the paper back. "The theobromine concentration is quite high as well as the sugar level."

"theobromine?"

"You see chocolate is made from the roasted seeds of Theobroma cacao. It contains certain ingredients… like caffeine and chemical called theobromine. Cats and dogs are very sensitive to these two. And…" A short pause. "Unfortunately, they can be toxic to cats."

Kidd stared at the seashells chocolate, then back at the doctor. "You mean it's a chocolate poisoning?"

"In a simple term, yes." The red haired doctor paused as he waited for Kidd to answer his earlier question.

The thin brows were joined together as the redhead raked his mind through yesterday night. "I'm pretty much sure we don't have chocolates stock except for the drink…" Kidd then turned to his brother. "Luffy, did you give her any…?"

As anticipated, the boy shook his head in denial.

Another few minutes of intense calculation, the mechanic still could come up with trustworthy answer. "We never gave her anything other than the cat food, let alone snack—"

A short hiatus and ever so slowly the brothers looked at each other before a sharp realization slapped them. Almost simultaneously, they both came up with an early hypothesis.

Faster than lighting, Kidd dug into his pocket only to draw out his phone. He scrambled off the sofa and quickly dialed a certain number.

On the third ring, "Hellooo…"

The mechanic scowled at the voice. It sounded groggy enough for him to believe the person on the other end of line, namely Killer had just woken up. "Yo, blondie. Just woke up?"

There was sound made by fabrics shifting together. "Wha—Kidd? What the hell…?" The voice appeared muffled; assuming the blond now was burying his face into the pillow.

"Good question. Last night when you came to my house, what snacks did you bring?"

"What?"

"I said…" The redhead tapped the tip of his shoe against the hardwood floor in impatient manner. "What snacks did you bring?"

"You woke me up because you want to ask about snacks? Kidd, so help me—"

Kidd interrupted before Killer could finish his sentence. "First, it's almost noon so don't act all snappish to me like I'm calling you three in the morning. Second, if you don't answer my question within three second, I'm going to ransack your house and drag your skinny ass to where I'm standing right now."

Sighing loudly, the blond continued. His voice was clearer this time. "Okay, okay. Just give me a sec and let me think first. Last night… snacks… uh, shortbread, some dried plums and uh…"

"… chocolate?" Kidd prompted.

"Yeah, and chocolate. The milky one. Luffy was fond of them. They have bat shape, Dracula head shape, pumpkin, Frankenstein and—"

While his friend was still mumbling all the different shapes of chocolate, the redhead shot a comical look toward his phone. How the hell a person who had just woken up could remember all the chocolate shapes?

"Kill, stop, stop! Just—just stop, alright… That's enough." Wheezing slightly, Kidd pinched his nose bridge. "My next question is, did you give any of these pumpkin, Dracula and leprechaun chocolate to my cat?"

"Nami…? Oh yeah. She wouldn't stop kneading my laps so I gave her some to keep her busy. And for the record, she liked the skull shape."

Tipping his head back, Kidd let out a loud ground. "Kill, you Wubba snack monster… if you're in front of me right now, I'll be pulverizing you to a bloody pulp just like how Luffy pulverizes the kitty chows."

"…"

"No thanks to your gracious deed feeding my cat with your milk chocolate, now she's sick like a dog and got all the energy of slug." Kidd was beginning to get irritated.

"Er… sorry?"

Kidd felt his frustration rise to dangerous level. "I'd really hack your hair for this, but I'm conserving my energy for any violent acts. I'll settle with you on Monday."

The mechanic pushed the end button before Killer could reply.

Emitting a loud sigh, Kidd turned around only to catch two set of open stare. It wasn't Luffy's alarmed look that bothered him, but rather the facial expression plastered on the doctor's face. It was a crossover between glee and fascination. Worse, he didn't have the slightest decency to cover his grin and that only fueled Kidd's irritation to a whole new stage.

"Well, at least we know the culprit." Shanks chortled, earning himself another dagger glare from the mechanic. "What type of chocolate was it? Milk?"

Kidd huffed and sat on the arm rest next to Luffy. "Yeah. Does it matter?"

"Hm-mm. Milk chocolate has only small amount of theobromine, but the toxic effect is still there considering the kitten small size. But if it's a dark chocolate, then it's a code red emergency because this kind of bitter chocolate has the highest concentration."

"But it's treatable, right?" Kidd had to absolutely sure on this aspect of things. If something happens to the calico because of some blond, snack eating fiend that may lead to—gulp—death… there was no telling how Luffy would react to it. He didn't want to be one who bears the guilt—it would definitely be painful and permanent.

"For Nami case, of course." Shanks stood up; brushing away the invisible chocolate crumbs and led the brothers back to the exam room.

By the time they entered the room, the calico had stirred from her short snooze and mewed faintly. Shanks scooped her out and placed her back on the table, this time closer to the edge of the table and near the boy.

"The treatment won't be too intensive. We are going to administer activated charcoal to her to prevent further toxic absorption into the body. And I might give her anticonvulsant if she doesn't stop twitching." The veterinarian explained while looking at Luffy who was nose to nose to the kitten.

When he swapped his attention to the older brother, Shanks adopted a more serious expression. "Also, she needs to be hospitalized, so I can give her IV fluid to completely remove the chemical from her system and it's easier for me to monitor too."

"Oh… How long does she have to stay here?" Kidd nodded, settling his hand on Luffy's shoulder for reassurance. The younger picked out the important details and the expression he taken up was all about care.

"It won't be too long. Just a few days"

At the word 'stay', Luffy could immediately decipher the code that he won't be seeing Nami for a while. The kicked puppy expression was apparent without the boy noticing it as he stroke the calico gently. The way his lips curled downwards in that frown shot an ugly feeling to the doctor. It coiled deep in his gut and burnt with guilt. Anyone who witnesses the expression would definitely coo over the boy and want to hold the child close to ease his sadness. And most probably cry too.

That included Shanks of course.

But before he could squeeze the child and give him a hug of death, the doctor immediately recomposed himself. He bent down and tapped Luffy's cheek to steal his attention, giving a warm smile. "Don't be sad. You can still visit her whenever you want."

Luffy blinked and decided to press his luck. "Everyday?"

It was the first time the child spoke ever since the brothers' arrival at the clinic and Shanks chuckled. Except that, the quiet laugh was far from amusement or satisfaction. They were gentler together with a friendly vibe. In some way, Kidd could almost relate the reason why this scarred man could make his brother drawn to him.

Nevertheless, this man still irked him.

"Sure you can." Shanks straightened up and leaned his back against the cabinet, arms crossed over his chests. "You guys live around here, yes? I mean, I saw you walk passed here like every morning."

Taken back, the mechanic nodded. "Yeah. Grove 22 Apartment."

"Figured. I knew Luffy looks awfully familiar back at the store, but it didn't ring any bell. Do you go to the nearby elementary school, Luffy?" The doctor fiddled at the alcohol solution next to him, eyeing the boy through the corner of his wine-eyes.

Tapping Nami's cold, pink nose with his fingertip, Luffy then turned to the questioner and bobbed his head.

"Then you probably know my son too. He's—"

There was an interruption to the conversation when a dark head poked through the doorway. Cognac-brown orbs silently inspected the room until they landed on the coat-wearing veterinarian.

"Shanks…" The intruder muttered. Although only his head was shown, it was too obvious he, too, was still a boy and Kidd had a rough guess he was around Luffy's age. [3]

The doctor acknowledged the boy's present. "Hm…? You're already back?"

"Um." Slowly he shuffled in, but still standing on the doorway, holding a brown paper bag close to his chest. "They are out of banana bread today, so I bought potato bread instead. And also some cheese croissants, rolls, pumpernickel, monkey bread…"

As the boy rummaged through the selections of breads inside the bag, Kidd silently took in his appearance. Clad in black/white stripped tank top and army style cargo shorts, the boy had a similar built like Luffy, only taller. In fact, the similarity also applied to his hair which was raven-black in color, untamed, but slightly longer and parted in the middle. The freckles that supposed to make his appearance more childish were masked by the small frown on his face.

"It's okay, that'll do." Shanks said after the boy was done with the breads inspection. "And give the monkey bread to Perona so she'd stop sulking. Even the bread name suits her…" The doctor again sniggered under his breath, careful enough not to be heard by the pink haired assistant.

"Okay." Aloof with the presence of unfamiliar persons in the room, the boy spun on his heels and took off. But his adventure didn't go far when the boy walked backward and poke his head back into the room. Only this time, his hooded eyes didn't linger on Shanks, but settled exactly on the other boy next to Kidd, namely Luffy.

Freckled boy stared intently at Luffy. And Luffy too, returned the scrutinizing gaze. No one spoke during the period, not even a single 'meep' sound. Both boys were bluntly ignored the confused adults gawking at them.

"…Luffy?" The freckled boy finally open his mouth as his raised his left eyebrow.

The said boy sucked his lips in and released them after a while only to mutter out, "Ace."

"So you do know my son after all." The doctor didn't sound all that surprise as though he accepted the possibility that the two boys might be acquaintance.

Shocked with the man's revelation, the mechanic looked back at the freckled boy. This is his son?

Dragging his feet into the room, the boy named Ace stood next to the veterinarian. "He's the new transfer kid in my class. I told you before, remember? The quiet one."

Without doubt, to Ace, Luffy was too quiet and always sat alone disregarding the time or place. Sure he spoke when asked, but never once Ace heard him voiced out any unnecessary points. Organized and neat, the smaller boy always seemed to be working hard but never sweated. His expression was bland, never flinched, as if Luffy was incapable of feeling any pain. As a matter of fact, he had never witnessed him showing any feeling. Sad, angry or even happy. Although lately, Luffy did look brightened up, but the fact that he always by himself never changed.

"Oh yes, I remember!" The sudden hit of realization made Shanks to clap his hand together. "The shy one! Ace told me about you. He said you don't talk much in class, but smart, especially in math, right?"

To say that he was surprised was understatement. Luffy was literally shocked. All this time in class, he tried to set himself into stealth mode so he wouldn't attract anyone's attention. If the teacher asked him to bring papers to the office, he complied without voicing out complain. If the boy next to him asked him whether he could borrow his eraser, he would lend it without inquiry. If he was asked to write down the answer on the blackboard, he would definitely put down the correct solution.

All in one, he did everything essential in class, but not enough to draw attention or make himself know, much less being remembered. Yet, the boy called Ace who sat rows away acknowledged him.

It's puzzling.

Everything about Ace could be described by one word. Intimidating. The taller boy was always seen fighting with other boys and it doesn't limit to his own classmate only. It wasn't a serious fight though, just a small brawl but that was more than enough for other kids to keep their distance away. Troublemaker, yes. Bad temper, why not? But one thing for sure, Ace isn't one to torment those who seemed weak and maybe different. In a simplest term, he is not a bully. Rather, he only opted violence when provoked or through insults. It was too easy to be noticed even for someone like Luffy.

Almost all the time, Ace was spotted walking or sitting by himself. His reputation as a troublemaker most probably drove people away.

Back to the reality, the said enigma slowly made his way toward the exam table and crouched down close to the limping calico. "Yours?"

When Luffy realized Ace was referring to Nami, he nodded in confirmation.

Ace bent further down to take a better look on the name tag of the kitten's reflective collar. "Nami…" He softly read the name on the tag. "What's wrong with her?"

Since he never had any conversation with the freckled boy, Luffy had a hard time perceiving his question. "Uh…"

And Shanks intervened. "Chocolate poisoning."

Feeling his mouth forming a pout, Ace turned briskly at the doctor. "Shut up, old man. I'm not asking you, I'm asking Luffy."

The boy's curt remark didn't wilt his cheer. "Well, I'm the doctor here~"

With a small annoyed huff, Ace turned back to his classmate and shot an incredulous look. "You gave her chocolate? You can't do that. It's not good for her."

At what he took as a light scold, Luffy bit his lower lip in guilt. "I didn't. Killer did."

"Oh." Realizing that he just made a mistake, the taller boy nodded, his fingers went to scratch the calico's chin and laughed when Nami licked the digits. "She's cute. How about your other cats? Did they eat chocolates too?"

Luffy shook his head. Inside, he had the difficulty to believe that he was currently talking to Ace normally as though they were good friends. "Nami is my only cat. She's alone when I found her."

"Alone? You mean she was abandoned?" Again, Shanks slipped into their conversation. After his suspicion was confirm by the child simple nod, the doctor continued, "I'm not surprised though. They're a lot of abandoned kittens lately. Some owners are too lazy to get their cats neutered and ends up throwing away the kittens. So this is her first time going to a vet?"

"Huh? Yeah."Kidd replied as he watched the freckled boy wiggled his finger in front of Nami in hope the calico would paw at it.

"I see." The doctor shoved his hands into his coat pockets, ankles crossed. "Since this is her first visit, I might as well give her a vaccine shot."

Kidd held up his hand. "Elaborate."

"First time having a cat, huh?" At Kidd nod, Shanks continued. "To put it in a simple way, kittens are like kids too. They need vaccination series so they wouldn't get sick. The core—or the necessary ones are panleukopenia, herpesvirus, and calicivirus. Yeah, I know, the terms are helluva confusing, so I'll give the pamphlets about these vaccination series later."

"Do that." In agreement, Kidd shook his head. "Because my brain has a tight security system against medical terms."

Shanks smiled at the redhead's humorous attempt. "Anyway, the good news is these three vaccines can be done in one shot. Of course, she needs to visit here again for another two shots and they're going to be given for every three to four weeks. And also, I'll give a medication for deworming and test for feline leukemia. Is that okay?"

"Well, you're the doctor. Anything that you think is good for my cat works well to me." The truth is, Kidd couldn't handle anymore of the baffling medical terms. For now, he had to trust that Nami would be perfectly fine while under his care.

"Then…" Picking up the forgotten clipboard on the countertop, Shanks fished out a ball pen from his pocket to make more notations. "Overall, chocolate poisoning… Vaccinations… deworming and… FIV. .. And Ace? Do you know these guys actually live close to us?"

The taller boy stopped flicking Nami's glow-in-the-dark collar and turned around and then back to Luffy. "Yeah?"

"U-huh." Sliding the pen back into the pocket of his lab coat, the red haired doctor tossed the clipboard to the countertop with a small clatter. "They passed by here everyday."

"No way." Ace mouthed, surprised was all over his face. "How come I never saw them?"

"Becaauuussseee…" As he drawled the word, Shanks chortled. "everytime they passed by, you're still in your La-La land, drooling all over your pillow, my dear narcoleptic pup."

There were a lot of words in Shanks' remarks that made Ace wanted to snarl at. But right now, he'd settle for one. "I don't drool."

The widened grin only pulled a deep scowl from the freckled boy. "Of course you do. I'll take pictures next time and we'll see if I'm right or wrong."

In order to fight the heat the dangerously trying to run up his cheeks, Ace ignored the cackling doctor and pretended that his classmate with his calico were far more interesting than the ridiculous threat. "Cool. We can go to school together."

Irritation started to build up at the series of 'Mrrrooow' from outside the room, which was triggered by his trademark laughter, so Shanks closed the door to minimize the menacing sound. "That's a great idea! You can visit Nami too while you stop by. And probably Ace will get enough motivation to wake up early once in a while. You know, everytime I had to wake him up is worse than dragging a grizzle bear from its cave during hibernation. Just this month, two blankets destroyed because I had to practically rip it off from him."

Ace's mouth fall opened at his father's revelation regarding him. The old man just needed to yap embarrassing stuff in front of other people! Through the corner of his light brown eyes, he noticed the corner of the redhead mechanic's mouth slowly extending upward. To him, it was equivalent to smirk. Even though he had no idea who the man was or his relationship with Luffy, the freckled boy darted an annoyed look to him.

The boy's fiery nature was too… nostalgic if he must say. Ace is like a miniature version of himself, especially with that dagger glares.

Unlike his smirking brother, Luffy sucked his lips in again. Not because he wanted to stifle a laugh like Shanks was currently doing, but for entire different reason. By together, did Ace mean that they would be walking to school side by side while talking about interesting topics? Last night cartoon maybe? Until now, he rarely befriended with anyone. Well, except for the boy from his previous school who offered him half of his Strawberry Swiss Roll. In his book, that was friendship.

But the feeling he was experiencing the moment was so unusual, baffling and mysterious. Something was tingling inside his tummy, his heart thudding all over his chests like some crazy tribal drum. The sensation was the same with that time when Kidd had accidentally made caffe latte for him that got him on caffeine high for the rest of the night.

Luffy wasn't sure the causes for these sensations, but he sort of… liked it. And because of that, he gave vigorous nods to Ace's suggestion.

The freckles on his cheeks seemed to be dancing when Ace grinned at Luffy's sudden enthusiastic nature. At the same time, the muscles near both ends of Kidd's mouth flexed, forming an extremely rare smile.

"Well~" The joyful veterinarian chirped. "Now that it's settled, I think I can start with the little calico's treatment. Ace, could you bring Nami to the empty cage? I think it's on the left. And tell Cindry to prepare the IV. She should be in the lab room right now."

Nodding, Ace went to Shanks only to shove the bag filled with breads to the doctor's chests, startling the man. As he puffed the word 'oooff', Shanks took the behavior as a sort of punishment and also the boy's way to tell him that he was still pissed for the earlier comment.

Without batting an eyelid, Ace then lifted the calico off the table and immediately wrapped his arms around her to support both her front and hind legs as though he had done it many times before. Then, he gestured for Luffy to follow him. "Let's go. I'll show you the other animals we've got in the room."

"Go on, Luffy." Kidd urged, giving the boy a little nudge to encourage him. Now that Luffy was willing to take a chance in building relationship with other people, he needed to give as much support as he could to help his brother overcome his timidity and avoidance. This was also to aid the boy to defeat the fear of rejection and to understand that everything about him was acceptable.

Another ruffled to the head and Luffy finally released his clutch on Kidd's jacket, slowly chasing after the awaiting boy.

"Yesterday, we received a chinchilla and a bunny. And I'll show our cats too. We have one that looks like a leopard, and—"

As the boys went further and further away from the exam room, Ace distinctive chatty voice too, was getting fainter.

Kidd watched the door a bit longer but his reverie was interrupted when Shanks leaned forward against the exam table to support most of his weight. The sudden closeness made the mechanic to frown and the wrinkles on his forehead became more intense once he saw the VERY big conspiratorial smile formed on Shanks' face.

"So…" The veterinarian started. "A love child then?"

Loud, exasperated groans reverberated throughout the room as Kidd massaged his temples furiously. There is no end to this conversation, is there?

**-To be Continued-**

**[1] I had a hard time choosing assistants that suitable enough for a man like Shanks. In the end, I picked Perona since her zombies are all animals, so it sort of suits her. And she has one hell of a mouth too .**

**[2] I once read this OP doujinshi where Shanks is a vet and Ace and Luffy are his son. Honestly, the idea is too cute and I couldn't help myself from adapting it into the story.**

**[3] Well, I figure that Ace is a little bit rebellious and it'd be too awkward for him to call Shanks 'dad' or something.**

**A/N: I hope this chapter meets to your satisfactory, since most of you guys are in love with Shanks and Ace. . and again, thank you for all of you who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm touched, REALLY! **


	9. Promise Never To Untie

**Chapter 2: Promise Never to Untie**

**A/N: My deeeeppeeeesssttt apology for the late updating. I was too busy to finish up my thesis (bloody hell project). Not to mention my computer crashed down because of some stupid viruses and all my data were practically wiped out! And I have to re-do almost half of my thesis and damn… It was almost like hell descended upon me. Well, anyway, enjoy!**

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Amber eyes gazed on the device embedded next to the door, located around the height of the doorknob.

The well defined neck…

The coronet on the head…

The curled tail…

Antique brass for a finish and a push button at the middle of its tummy.

Otherwise known as a doorbell in a shape of a sea horse.

Including today, it was the third time Kidd has gazed on the same signaling device ever since Nami's administration to animal clinic. Yet, the peculiar looking doorbell never failed to halt him in track and awed at the object in stupidity. Or amusement.

A soft tug on his hand snapped him from his morning trance. Kidd diverted his attention toward the perpetrator and saw his brother was giving him a questioning look. In return, the redhead flashed out a small smile. A simple gesture to inform the child that everything is fine and he was still, indeed sane.

Though all these costal theme of the animal clinic was starting to give him a throbbing headache.

With a small head shake, Kidd raised his hand to push the button for the doorbell, but the sudden opening of the door prevented him from proceeding any further.

Clad in one of his unusual aprons—a scarecrow patch print with the neck piece and ties are done in sunflower print—Shanks beamed at the brothers. At times like this, Kidd wondered if there's a time the animal doctor was seen without his usual grin.

"Mornin' you two." Shanks' smile grew wider when the younger redhead mumbled 'morning' in respond. Placing the wooden spatula inside the front pocket, the man ran his fingers through the small boy's soft lock. Startled at first, but slowly, Luffy's frame relaxed and he unconsciously leaned towards the gentle touch.

"You should see Nami first, Luffy. She's been awfully noisy this morning."

The child perked up at hearing the calico's name and wasted no time trotting inside Shanks' house while tugging Kidd along by his wrist. Behind them, the veterinarian stifled a chuckle when he saw the older brother almost stumbled on the hardwood floor as he was dragged further into the household.

Once they were inside the patient room, Luffy hurried to the far end of the many cages, skipping a few steps along the way. Behind the cage's bars, Nami's feverish mews was getting louder by seconds. Her cat instinct felt the presence of her master but when the image of the raven haired boy hasn't come into the view, disappointment started to get into the kitten.

With a small pout, Luffy puckered his brows at the cage above him. For some reason, Shanks had moved the calico from the bottom cage to the upper one and out of his reach. But his dilemma was solved when a pair of hands sneaked under his arms and lifted him off the floor. His little feet dangled in the air as he was placed firmly on the mechanic's right hip and Kidd inched toward Nami's temporary home.

"Nami…" Luffy gurgled at the bouncy kitten. Unlike three days ago, the calico now was back to her old self, leaping around in delight when she heard the child's voice.

"Damn, she gets even more energized than before." With a small shudder, Kidd opened the latch of the calico cage. An energized Nami means there will be more sneak attack around the house and his feet probably going to be the main target.

"You guys can bring her back home by today." Shanks' voice suddenly boomed out of nowhere.

Craning his neck slightly, Kidd shifted his attention toward the animal doctor. His other hand supported Luffy's side to make sure he wouldn't fall over when the child leaned further to the cage. "Everything is alright now?"

"Uhuh. She reacted well to the treatment and I've given all the necessary vaccines." The wine-red eyes followed the child. His little hand was busy stroking the multicolor kitten and he squirmed when Nami tickled his palm with her rough tongue.

"Well… guess I better go get the sleeping tiger now!" The doctor declared cheerfully. "Why don't you guys wait in the kitchen? There are some toasts, cereal and a soup on stove. Just help yourself."

"You know…" The younger redhead suddenly spoke before Shanks exited the room. "I've been meaning to say this actually. You do realize we already had breakfast before we come here, right?"

Of course, Kidd certainly did not need to state the obvious. But why the heck does the older man always offer them heap of food everytime they come?

For a moment, Shanks stared at the mechanic before his grin was back on his face.

"Double breakfast then!"

Somehow, Kidd felt like he was to most stupid creature for even trying to understand the man.

A small defeated sigh escaped his lips after Shanks had left the room. He watched his brother made a pawing motion at the kitten and wondered if Luffy had heard their conversation. At any rate, they should move to the kitchen before the master of the house pesters them again.

…

Actually, a bowl of hot soup doesn't sound that bad after all especially for a chilly morning like this.

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"Hurry up, Ace. Luffy is already—" Shanks paused midsentence as he stood in the doorway, his hand still on the doorknob. He peered on the bed, half expecting that Ace still cocooned inside his blanket. To his bewilderment, the bed was now empty. Stepping further into his son's room, Shanks smiled at the state of the bed—the rumpled bedsheet and a poorly folded blanket. An evidence that someone had tried to make his bed but didn't succeed.

The problem is… Just where is the owner of the bed—oh, there he is!

Spotted in front of the wardrobe, Ace was seen kneeling on the floor, unmoving. Curious, Shanks padded to where his son was and immediately chuckled under his breath. No wonder the freckled boy didn't move at all. After all, his narcolepsy kicked in again and he had fallen asleep in the middle of dressing himself. Half of his body lied on the lower shelf and Ace had only managed to slide one arm into the sleeve of his polo shirts while his other arm dangled on his side.

"Ace… wake up. You're going to be late." The doctor shook the boy's shoulder gently, but he wakeup call was met with a small grunt and then S-I-L-E-N-T. A few more attempts and the outcome was still the same. Sighing, Shanks gently pulled the boy's upper body out from the wardrobe and leaned the smaller frame against his chests.

"What am I going to do with you…?" The red haired man mumbled as his hands worked on Ace, sliding the boy's other arm into the sleeve and finally tugging down the hem of the shirts to cover his son's torso. All the while, Ace was oblivious to the world, his soft breath came out in a steady pace.

Lucky enough, he already had his pants or it would be helluva challenging for the single father to put the pants on a sleeping cub that could wake up any time and roar at him.

Yet, the boy made no indication to wake up anytime soon, leaving Shanks with no choice but to carry him down. He lifted his son up and cradled him in his arms. The action didn't stir the sleeping child a bit and Shanks smiled when Ace unconsciously wrapped his arms around the man's neck, burying his face into his father's shoulder.

"You're too heavy for me." Muttered the doctor as he carefully made his way down the stairs in which the sleeping cub responded by scrunching his nose and made a cute grunting sound.

Of its own record, Kidd's thin eyebrow rose by three millimeters at the sight of Shanks carrying a sleeping Ace in his arms. It wasn't the first, but yeah… it was still awkward. At least he didn't haul his son like a potato sack like yesterday. And the day before too. It concerned him more when the sleeping bundle was indeed, still sleeping even after placed down on the chair. But the concern immediately replaced by amusement as Shanks had to wrestle his son to get him to release the grip around his neck. Hair tussled; the man finally strode towards the stove to fill the porcelain bowl with warm soup.

As the mechanic sipped on his unsweetened coffee, his amber eyes observed the morning drama before him. To start with, Shanks shook the boy gently as he placed the bowl on the table. After a few fail attempts, the red haired man pinched the boy's nose. Then, the sleeping pup finally stirred and blinked a couple of time with his bleary eyes before proceeding to eat his breakfast with such vigor like someone who've been starving for days.

"How can he eat like that the second he wakes up?" Kidd expressed his thought as he watched Ace dipped his croissant into the egg and milk soup before stuffing half of the loaf into his mouth.

The comment made the doctor to chuckle as he filled the glass with a fresh orange juice. "Hmm… I did say he's like a tiger cub… or lion… whichever that roar."

Alright, that was the most bizarre answer Kidd had ever heard in his life. First of all, Shanks said Ace is like a pup, not a tiger cub or—or anything that can roar. And secondly…

"You're not making any sense. I never heard a lion pounces on an antelope the second it wakes up. It yawns, it stretches and maybe snarls a few times but Ace… honestly, I don't know if I should be amazed or horrified." Kidd almost regretted his food for thought when the subject of their conversation threw a dagger glare at him. For an eight year old kid, Ace sure knows how to glower. If he was born with weak heart, Kidd would be a pile of revolting mush by now.

"Good point. But still…" The man paused only to put down the juice filled glass close to the freckled boy. "You haven't seen worse. Sometimes he even falls asleep in the middle of eating."

Ignoring the adults, Ace nonchalantly snatched a piece of toast and tugged the sleeve of Shanks' white shirt, pointing at the peanut butter jar next to Kidd. Usually, he would have bark at the mechanic to pass the jar, but since his mouth was full with half chewed croissant, he opted for Shanks assistance instead. Understood the universal request, the veterinarian grabbed the jar and readily opened the lid before giving it to the awaiting hand. Making his last swallow, Ace then scooped out a knife full of extra crunchy peanut butter and spread layers of the roasted peanut paste over the toast.

For a scrawny kid, Ace sure can eat, Kidd mused to himself.

While his son took few large bites on his bread, Shanks walked over to the cabinet to retrieve a small canister from the drawer. A rattling sound echoed throughout the kitchen when the doctor poured the content into his palm.

"Here, don't forget your meds." The red haired man placed the medication into the small palm of his son. Ace stared at the white, oval shape pill on his hand before popping it into his mouth and washed it down with the orange juice.

"You change his meds?" Kidd inquired as he wiped the soup smudge on Luffy's chin with a tissue. Surely, he remembered the one Shanks had given Ace yesterday was an orange capsule.

His red hair swayed as Shanks shook his head. "Actually this is the usual. The orange one, methylphenidate, is for trial, but…" Drawling, the man shrugged. "Somehow Ace reacted badly to it and he ended up getting more cranky. The side effects are even worse than his narcolepsy fit. So I changed it back to his usual meds."

"So this one doesn't have side effects?" Well, medicines and human anatomy wasn't his really kind of thing, but Ace's narcolepsy case somewhat intrigued the mechanic. No harm in gaining more knowledge, right?

"No, no." The pills inside the canister rattled as Shanks waved his hand. "All meds are considered drugs and of course drugs, have their own side effects no matter what they are used for. At least this one only causes a very mild and temporary nausea."

Shanks watched his son smacked his lips a few times at the juice's sourness before continued. "I didn't want to give him at first. But lately, his fit is getting worse at the point he fall asleep in the middle of PE. The class teacher had to call me because Ace's head got hit with the dodge ball."

Wincing, Kidd let his brother to flick at his wrist band. "He's… ok?"

As he packed the lunchbox into Ace's school bag on the counter, Shanks snorted under his breath. "Oh, Ace was fine. Actually the teacher called me because apparently Ace had punched the boy who threw the ball. Can you believe that?" With no remorse, Shanks ignored the term decency and laughed his heart out, much to Kidd astonishment.

This man never failed to astound him. Shanks probably the only person so far that could make him gap stupidly like a fish.

Still in shock, Kidd down the rest of his coffee and slowly stood up, the chair legs squeaked against the floor. "Well, uh… we better get moving now…"

Almost simultaneously, the boys stood up, getting ready to leave. His impassive look remained intact as Ace walked over to his father and peered into his school bag. From the distance, Kidd couldn't perceive the father and son conversation but he imagined that the freckled boy was asking what was packed for lunch by the way he kept on fiddling the lid of his lunchbox.

A few exchanged grunts (mainly Ace) and mumbles later, the boy finally closed his unusual looking bag. In one glance, it was as though the bag was made out of an innocent watermelon skin, with all those green color and black prints.

Hauling the bag over his shoulder, Ace quickly dashed towards the front hallway where the brothers were already waiting for him and slid his feet inelegantly into his shoes. But before Ace could run for the door, Shanks yanked his son by his bag, causing him to stumble back with a surprise yelp. The veterinarian ignored the protest grunts and bent down, only to plant a soft kiss on top of Ace's dark head. Once Shanks released his captive, the freckled boy immediately glowered at the grinning man. His fingers brushed through his raven lock furiously as though his father kiss had ruined his hairdo.

Not that he had one to begin with.

"Off you go. Don't cause too much trouble or else I'm really going to spank you." And Shanks words of choice only made the boy to bristle like a… like a…

Almost like tiger cub…

Damn.

Despite all the bristling and hissing, the mechanic still spotted a red tint decorating the boy's freckled cheeks and Kidd had to fight the urge to smirk. They already had one handful cat back at home, and Kidd certainly didn't want anything more that could claw and hiss at him.

The trio walked in silence at first before Ace decided to break the morning peace.

"Neh, Kidd…"

Keeping on hand around Luffy's small wrist, the said man turned to the boy who was kicking the small pebble on the road side. "Hnn..?"

"The two of you are living together, right? Just the two of you?"

Taken back by what Kidd considered as a strange question, Kidd took a quick glance at the smaller boy next to him. Luffy was looking straight back at him, the hand in his bigger one stirred slightly, half expecting his big brother is the one who would do the explaining.

"Yeah." At last, Kidd simply answered. He wasn't sure why would Ace throw that particular question when the boy already knew the answer himself.

Then, he inched closer to the older male with a curious aura. "What happened to your mom and dad?"

For a moment, Kidd felt his eyes widened a fraction. This wasn't the first time he asked with such question, plenty of time in fact. Even so, it never failed to throw him off-balance and rouse something inside him.

"They passed away."

Ace's mouth made a little 'o' of understanding as he shoved his hands into the front pocket of his fireglow color, hooded jacket. "I don't have mom too. Shanks said she died when I was still a baby."

The redhead nodded slightly in conformation. "I know. Your dad told me."

A sudden gush of wind plucked a lot of leaves from the nearby trees, leaving them dancing in the air. One of them landed on Luffy's dark head without the child's realization. The midnight color of his hair brought out redness of the leaf, making it looked eye-catching more than ever. With a chuckle, Kidd's pale hand brushed the small leaf off Luffy's hair and it finally descended on the pavement without much of a scraping sound.

This year's fall has been the most beautiful autumns the redhead could remember. The landscape exploded with vibrant color of red, yellow and orange; an amazing blaze of colors indeed. The scent was another thing. It was like a combination of maple, shadbush and pine trees—natural heavenly scents that calms his mind, almost like a therapy. Today's temperature too was just perfect—not too cold, not too warm. He was glad that Luffy decided to wear his hot rod lumberjack jacket since during this season, the temperature might just drop in the evening.

"Kidd…?" Again, Ace called for the man. Somehow, Kidd noticed the freckled boy was a tad talkative this morning and his mood was far brighter, unlike couple of days before. Shanks was right after all. Perhaps the trial meds did cause irritability and mood swings when consumed.

"What…?" He inquired as the redhead re-hoisted Luffy's bag on his shoulder.

"What do you do?"

Kidd gave a questioned confused look towards the questioner. "What do I what?"

"Your job." Ace's voice rang throughout the street. It wasn't as shrill as Luffy's, but it was still child-like nevertheless. "Shanks is a doctor. What a about you? What do you do?"

This is why children are so difficult. Their level of speech was making it hard for Kidd to perceive their question. It was too straight forward and innocent.

"I'm a mechanic."

"What mechanics do?" At the moment, Ace wasn't walking next to him. Instead, he opted to walk in front while doing a back-walk motion so the boy could face him.

"Well…" The redhead started, trying to come up with an explanation that's suitable for an eight year old boy. And damn, it was hard! Since Luffy wasn't one to talk much, so Kidd rarely had a deep man-to-boy conversation like this.

"We deal with cars I guess. At least the place I'm working at is."

"You guys build cars?" The usual half lidded eyes now widened into an impossible size as interest suddenly peaked inside the boy to the point that Ace almost stumbled but immediately regained his footing.

Chuckling, Kidd shook his head at the boy's excitement. "No, we don't build cars. We only fix them. And some owners send them over so we can change the car's appearance a bit. To make it looks… cooler I guess."

"Can you take us there?" The cognac-brown eyes glittered with anticipation. "I want to see the place you work at."

At the same time, Luffy looked at his brother, suddenly took interest with the conversation. Few times the idea of wanting to take a look at Kidd's work place materialized in his mind, but the courage to utter it never came by. So the thought gradually faded away with time. But now that Ace had declared his request, the hope was back and if possible, the feeling was off chart. Sometimes, the raven haired boy wished that he was more outspoken like his fellow classmate, instead of giving a simple nod or 'uhuh' when conversing with people.

Torn, Kidd rubbed the back of neck. "Uhh… I don't think that's a good idea, Ace."

Disappointment started to gnaw his inside and Ace frowned at Kidd's refusal. "Why?"

Kidd felt a small sigh escaped his parted lips. This is perhaps the only and ONLY trait that Ace inherited from his father. The same, unwavering perseverance.

"It's a sort of dangerous place. There a lot of machines in there and you guys might get hurt if you run around." For some reason, Kidd just knew this sort of answer won't be able to shake Ace's resolve.

And he was damn right to say that.

"We don't have to go inside then. Me and Luffy can just stand outside and look."

"Really now? Meaning that you won't AT LEAST step inside and touch the thing you've never seen before?" Kidd shot a challenging look at the freckled boy. Heck, who the hell Ace was trying to fool here? He had been a kid himself and the redhead was familiar with the feeling known as extreme curiosity when seeing new stuffs and the desire to touch it despite all the buckets of warnings spitted to him.

No one can blame it. Kids will always be kids, right?

Immediately, Kidd knew he had hit the right mark when Ace fidgeted under his stare. Next to him, Luffy too, was giving out a dejected expression. He felt like an asshole for an adult for turning down the children's simple request.

Come one, Eustass! Think fast! There should be another way to save him from this sticky as honey situation.

After a minute of raking his head, Kidd finally came up with the best solution he could think of. "Alright, alright! How about this? We'll ask your dad first if you can go to the workshop. If he says ok, then I'll ask my boss. If he too, says ok, then I'll bring the two of you to the shop. But you can only go there in the evening, when everyone already goes home. I don't want anyone operating the machine when you're there."

Of course, Kidd's going to ask for Killer assistance too. He wasn't sure about Luffy's level of curiosity, but the redhead was certain as hell that there was no way Ace going to stand still and act docile once he was inside. The boy was already a handful without even trying. At least, two sets of surveillance eyes are better than one.

"So if Shanks says ok and your boss too says ok, then you'll really bring us there?" In need for confirmation, Ace repeated the small part of the agreement.

"Yeah. You have my word on that."

"Promise?" Ace pressed further.

"Yes, Ace. I promise, ok?"

"Alright!" The boy chirped as he spun on his heels, facing forward this time. There was a big grin on his face as though he had won the argument. If you think logically, Ace, was indeed the winner for this round.

On Kidd's side, the redhead felt somewhat unease at his decision. Was it hasty of him to make such verdict despite the possible danger that might befall on these boys? But as long he keeps his eyes close on them as well with proper precautions, nothing bad bound to happen, right?

… Right?

That's it. He is so going to ask Absalom and Killer to be Ace's personal bodyguard on that faithful day. No excuse.

On the other hand, the mechanic sort of glad he made the decision. By the look on Luffy's face which appeared much brighter, Kidd assumed that his brother too, was excited with the idea.

This was just one of those moments where the redhead wished Luffy would let him know whatever on his mind. Certainly his brother was slowly overcoming his disorder by establishing trust with other people especially him and Kidd was glad with the improvement. But until now, Luffy was still holding himself back. Even though he started speaking more, but his manner of speech was still very cautious. It was selfish of him to wish for Luffy's mental sickness to be cured in a couple of month, but one could never stop hoping, right?

The child therapist, Monet had warned him that Luffy's rehabilitation period may required years with mountains of patience and encouragement judging by the result that came from the child's diagnosis. As a therapist, she had handled dozens of child abuse cases to date and it was safe to conclude that Luffy's case is without doubt, a severe one.

Years… that's helluva a long time.

Quickly, Kidd shook his head. This is not the time to be negative! Luffy is improving, what else could he ask for? For Luffy's sake, he had to stay positive and supportive. He had to. And now, by having Ace, a boy around Luffy's age, his presence is more likely would help his brother in improving his social awareness and social skills to some degree. In other words, Ace was one of the important keys for Luffy's rehabilitation even if the freckled boy doesn't realize it himself.

Even if the same boy could bristle at him like a tiger cub. Or a lion. Or anything that roar as stated by Shanks.

Before Kidd managed to list all sort of animals could represent Ace, the trio already arrived in front of their elementary school gate. He slid the bagpack off his shoulder only to have it hoisted on Luffy's narrow ones. When he ensured the bag was firmly settled, the mechanic bent down and planted a chaste kiss on Luffy's head, just between the hairline and his forehead and stroked his brother's head afterward. He had seen other parents performed that particular gesture to their children, and Kidd felt that by copying it would somehow connect him and his little brother.

And since this was Luffy's first time experiencing that type of loving gesture (the kiss that is), the child had a hard time comprehending the situation. To be precise, he didn't know how to respond besides giving a blank, confused stare towards his brother.

Should he kiss back? Or hug him? Or say thank you?

In front of him, Luffy looked rather… harassed, much to Kidd's bewilderment. As though the boy was forced to choose between Classic Coq au Vin and Lamb Mousaka for dinner.

"Luffy…?" Kidd called for the unblinking boy, tapping his cheek with his finger. In instant, the said boy blinked. And blinked. And blinked again as if he was splashed with a bucket of cold water.

With a frown, the mechanic pointed at Ace's direction. "Ace is waiting for you."

After a moment or two of intense blinking, Luffy finally got his gears kicked in and slowly jogged his way to his classmate. Amber eyes trailed the silhouette of the two small frames until they vanished in the sea of children.

Kids… It's just so hard to understand them.

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"Ero-Salom!"

The said person almost jumped three feet high at the sudden intrusion. If he had been drinking something, the liquid would have coated the purchase order book in his hand. As he tried to calm his heart so it wouldn't catapult out of his throat, the owner of the car repair shop glared at the red haired intruder who's standing in the doorway to the shop's small office.

"Knock, damnit!" Absalom tried to make his voice sounded a tad annoyed, but when he looked at the grinning youth in front of him, he just couldn't bring himself to do so. The redhead might be in his twenties, but in compare with his age, Kidd was still just like a brat to him.

"What?! Are you hiding something?!" Kidd spread his hands, taking an exaggerated look around as he stepped cautiously inside the office. "Were you in the middle of hacking a mutilated body of a blond chick?"

Absalom rolled his eyes at the younger dramatic behavior. "Just close the door, it's too loud outside I can barely hear my own voice. And if you want to name-calling me, at least stick to one. I can't even recognize my own name when you guys keeps on calling me with ten different nick names per day."

If possible, the grin only extended. "Nah, I'll stick with 'ero' at the time being. I like the way my tongue rolls when I say it."

Grumbling the word 'brat' under his breath, the older man rummaged through the stacks of aluminum form holders on his desk. "You're here for something, right? What is it? You want a day off?"

"No, no." Kidd inched to the desk, holding the back of the worn out swivel chair as he leaned his weight forward. This room (he refers it as the dark, office room) is actually adjacent to the waiting room and the inside is just as simple and bare as its neighbor. Even more bland perhaps, save for the walnut open shelf cabinet, two medium back chairs for guest plus one highback for himself and a simple cherry veneer working desk. Next to the shelf cabinet was a low side table—a used to be spot for his personal mug, picture frame, stationary and other miscellaneous items. Now that he had introduced the new policy of 'No food and drink' inside the office, the mug was re-located to the waiting room. The truth was, the new policy was made immediately after one of the workers accidentally spilled a cranberry juice on his desk and soiled many of the shop's important documents. The picture wasn't pretty. It was like someone just got disemboweled on his desk, leaving the bloody red mess.

And Kidd had heard from a reliable source that Killer was the perpetrator.

"Need to ask you somethin'…" The redhead youth started as Absalom thumbed through the pages of the book. "Is it ok if I bring the children to the shop?"

The blond male paused and looked up. "What…?"

"Well, Ace sort of force me to bring—"

"Who's Ace?" Absalom butted in.

"Oh, he's Luffy's friend and—"

"Luffy made friend?" Again, the man interrupted.

"Yeah. He actually a son to the veterinarian I went and—"

"You have a pet?" Yet, again, Kidd was cut in.

Kidd pinched the bridge of his nose. This conversation is going nowhere.

"Are you going to keep interrupting me or let me finish the story?"

Snorting, an amused smile tugged the corner of the shop's owner lips. "Hey now. You're the one who suddenly jumped into the middle of plot."

"Fine, fine. I'll make it a quick one." Kidd waved his hand. "My pet kitten got sick last week, so we sent it to the vet near our house and it turns out that the doctor's son is actually Luffy's classmate. The kid—I mean Ace and Luffy get along pretty well I guess. And this morning Ace suddenly said he wanted to see the workshop so uh… I sort of said ok to him."

Absalom gave a disproving look.

"I can't help it ok? He was being persistent and Luffy too was giving this puppy look and…" At the end of his sentence, Kidd's voice was slowly become softer.

"Kidd, this place is not a petting zoo. It can be dangerous especially when there's kid around." Absalom reasoned as he combed his fingers through his long mane. Usually when he was in office, the man would untied his waist-length blond hair and let it fall loose. To allow it to breathe, so he said.

"I know. That's why I was thinking to bring them after everyone goes home, when no one is working."

"But all the tools and machines are still there—" Absalom stopped mid-sentenced when sound of the door swinging open caught his attention. One of his workers, Marco strolled in, green color log book in his right hand.

"What's going on here…?" Marco demanded, giving a curious stare at Kidd.

"Doesn't anyone here know how to knock?" The frown on Absalom forehead got deeper as he watched Marco closed the door shut behind him.

Marco just shrugged, casually plopping himself down on the chair. "Not really. Besides, it's easier to burst in and surprise people."

"I got no respect around here."

Smirking at his boss complain, Marco then used the log book to smack the redhead's stomach lightly. "Really, what's going on?"

"What made you think somethin' is up?" This is why veterans are so… scary, in Kidd opinion. It's like they have sixth sense or shit like that, they practically could see through you and sometimes, even read your mind.

"I'm just saying." The older man sighed dramatically, waving the book back and forward as a makeshift fan. "The last time you went to see Absalom in this office… was the time you ask a day off to pick up your new brother. How about this time? Anymore secret brother that we don't know about?"

The redhead let out an inaudible gasp. How the hell did he know—

"I just know." Sensing the younger inner monolog, Marco replied lazily.

"Kidd wants to bring the children to the shop." Absalom explained 'helpfully', taking the log book from Marco's hand.

A knowing smirk marred the man's face. "U-huuuh… children? More long lost brothers?"

If Marco wasn't his senior by fifteen years, he would be snarling at the older man. For now, he would settle with a roll to the eyes. "Nooo. The other kid is Ace, Luffy's classmate."

"Hmm-mm." Marco nodded in understanding. "So? What's the problem?"

"What do you mean 'what's the problem'? The shop's owner stared at his blond worker incredulously. "There're no fury animals inside this garage. Just some tools, and tools and more dangerous tools! And you want to bring kids here?"

"We'll just have to keep an eye on them. Right Kidd?" The older man slapped Kidd's arm lightly. To be honest, Marco was a tad interested with the idea of bringing Kidd's little brother to the shop since he was one of those who hasn't meet the kid. He had heard from the glutton Bonney regarding the kid's emotional ordeal, so he was eager to see the boy's development so far.

Annoyed that Marco was siding with the redhead, Absalom gave an exasperated sigh. "It doesn't matter even if there's ten set of eyes watching them. Accident can still happen. Look what happened to Thatch."

"That's different story. Thatch was just being…" Marco paused momentarily. "Well, being Thatch. Calm down, alright? We'll just have to shut all the equipments when the kids come. And maybe lock Thatch in the store room…"

Kidd snickered at Marco's suggestion and silently glad that the older man was on his side, while Absalom groaned in defeat. "Fine, fine, you win. You can bring the kids here. But you have to tell me beforehand when you're going to bring them and—"

"Arrrrgghhhhh! My hand! My hand! Someone he—Killer if you don't stop laughing I swear—" It was Thatch's shrieking voice that cut whatever else Absalom had in mind and the shop's owner quickly ran towards the door.

"What the hell is going on?" Absalom yelled through the opened door. "Can someone just pull him out of there—"

Both workers just watched at the gaping door where their boss was last seen, unmoving, before Kidd and Marco turned at looked at each other and snickered.

"It's just Thatch." They said simultaneously.

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At 12.00 PM, the school bell chimed, indicating it was the lunch hour for second and third grade students. They were given only forty five minutes to eat lunch and rest, so the second the bell chimed, almost all the students scampered around with their lunches and left the class.

As Luffy closed his math book and collected his stationeries to be put inside the pencil case, a familiar silhouette approached toward his desk.

"Brought your launch?" Without as much greeting, Ace asked, standing right in front of Luffy's desk. Behind him, the freckled boy heard some murmurs from other students but when he turned around and gave a death glare, the whispering sounds died almost immediately as the other students quickly dashed out of the class. It was no different with that time where he and Luffy had walked together to class for the very first time. Multiple gasps could be heard throughout the class but Ace paid no heed to the annoying sound. Up until now, they probably still wondered how a quiet boy like Luffy could get along with him, considering his well-known reputation.

"Yeah…" Luffy answered softly, pulling out his navy lunchbox from his bag. Wordlessly, Ace took the lunchbox from the frail hand, only to put it into his lunch bag, just on top of his own lunchbox. Shanks had bought the insulated lunch bag for him since he always complained how the food tumbled around inside the container, making it a lot less appealing. Now with the dark maroon bag, he can carry the food upright, not sideway and the bag was even big enough to carry two lunchbox containers, water bottle and some extra snacks.

Satisfied with the arrangement, Ace zipped closed the bag and waited for Luffy to grab for his water bottle.

"Come on." The freckles on his cheeks danced as he grinned widely, gesturing the smaller boy to follow him.

"There's someone I want you to meet."

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N: A cliffhanger! I know, I'm being a tad meanie here. But I'm pretty sure a lot of your can guess who is the other person Ace is referring to. XD**


	10. The New Duckling

**Chapter 10: The New Duckling**

**A/N: I planned to finish this up earlier, but I got this horrible period pain, I could barely get out of my bed. It was hellish! And I ended up getting snappish at everyone. So enjoys!**

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Five minutes of non-hurried strolling, the two boys arrived at their usual spot for lunch—under a horse chestnut tree behind the school building. Secretly, Luffy really enjoyed the view and atmosphere since the first time Ace had brought him there. They were in the middle of fall season, so the typical white flowers of the tree was none to be spotted. But with the leaves on the tree that changed color from dark green into shades of yellow, orange and red, the combination of the colors produced a warming effect, almost like benign warmth of the sun.

When they stood underneath the hanged down branches, Ace suddenly looked up instead of taking a seat, much to Luffy's puzzlement.

"Sabo! Down here!" Ace called out before a rustling sound was heard.

Blinking slowly, Luffy too, looked up where the sound came. Perched on the lowest branch, was a boy with his legs dangling over the tree stem. It was hard to determine whether he recognized the boy from that distance but Luffy had a wild guess he was someone he'd never met before.

"Ace!" So the boy exclaimed and seconds later, he stood up from the makeshift bench and jumped down from the ten feet high branch. He landed with ease, landing on the balls of his feet first, and then on the whole foot, followed by his ankles, knees and hip joint flexion while he bent his leg to minimize the impact.

After he pushed himself up and dusted his black shorts, he finally looked up only to reveal himself more. Covering his cropped blond hair was a black peak cap with bright green for the flat surface and to match his black attire, the blond kid wore a light blue pullover hoodie.

The said boy grinned widely, making his way to the duo.

"How's your measles? You said you won't be coming to school until next week." The freckled boy questioned, eyes roaming over to detect any sign of leftover rashes.

"And stay longer with my dad?" The boy shuddered earning himself a guffaw from the raven haired boy. "No way!"

"But you're lucky that you don't have to go school."

"Yeah, well…" The blond paused, his eyes focused at the smaller boy behind Ace. Since there was not even a meep sound, he didn't realize the boy's presence until now.

"Who's this?"

"Oh, I forgot!" Ace moved two steps to the left for Sabo to have a better look at the boy. "This is Luffy. Luffy, this is Sabo. He's from other class."

Under the calculative stare of the blond boy, Luffy felt trepidation started to build up inside him and he held the water bottle close to his tummy.

"This is Luffy? The new kid in your class?" Sabo asked, still eyeing the fidgeting boy intently.

"U-huh. He sent his cat to our place and guess what? He lives near my house and now we're going to school together with his brother." Grinning, Ace placed his hands on his hips, letting the lunchbox to dangle helplessly next to his knee.

"Cool!" The cap wearing blond inched closer to the shrinking boy before offering a wide smile, startling Luffy a bit.

"I'm Sabo. Since you're a friend with Ace, that makes you my friend too, right?"

A friend to a friend is also his friend? Is that even possible? This was his first time hearing such revelation; Luffy had a hard time grasping the thing that just has been said. It wasn't until ten seconds later the blonds' words finally sucked in and processed inside his mind. At once, something in gut fluttered at the blonds' statement.

Was it fear?

No, it was far from that.

That time, Luffy was utterly confused. He'd never felt that particular emotion in his life. In fact, there are quite a lot of emotions the boy was unfamiliar with, like the ones he was experiencing at the moment. It was like seeing a rainbow at the end of shower and also like when the warm, and fuzzy Nami laying across his laps, or like a chocolate peppermint ice cream on a sweltering hot day.

It was a bit of everything, here and there.

More than anything, it wasn't unpleasant at all. Weird but a good weird.

"Well?" Sabo persisted, slightly confused with the raven-haired boy staring-into-nothingness activity. Did he say something weird?

Sabo had to admit. The kid really was a peculiar one. Not the type that talked with their imaginary friends or having weird habits. Just… odd, in an interesting way. Something about Luffy made him drawn to the smaller boy. Like Ace, they both shared the same dislike towards wimpy and crybabies but the boy with the scar underneath his eye was none of that. It was almost like Luffy was a fragile glass and the kid had the stare that Sabo just couldn't understand.

What amazed him the most that Ace acknowledged Luffy, the polar opposite to him, as a friend. Now that was new. So to sum up, the kid was worth to be checked out.

Ever so slowly, Luffy nodded. "Okay…" His voice was all soft and jittery as though Sabo might devour him any time soon.

The blond kid grinned, revealing the missing canine tooth. "Yosh! Let's eat! I'm sooo hungry…"

Just like that, the ice-breaking activity ended and Sabo quickly took a seat under the tree, beckoning Luffy to do the same.

"Come one, Luffy. Sabo always brings good stuffs." Ace said excitedly, his fingers already fiddling with the blonds' lunchbox.

"Watch it! You'll destroy my lunchbox again!" Faster than lightning, Sabo snatched the container from the freckled boy to save it from getting tore into pieces like the one he had previously.

As Luffy slowly sat crossed legs under the branched tree, Ace stuck out his tongue childishly at Sabo in which the blond ignored it and proceeded opening his lunchbox.

"What do you bring today?" The freckled boy eyed the two opened containers. Each containers had around three different dishes inside and it was mouth watering enough just by looking at them.

"I don't know." Sabo shrugged, handing out extra spoons to Luffy and Ace. "I just put everything inside."

Not familiar with the dishes, Luffy could only stare at them with a mystified expression. Everything inside the blonds' lunchbox looked like as if they had just materialized from a hotel menu or from the television. They seemed so… expensive-like.

"Sabo's dad attends a lot of dinner parties. He usually takes home the leftover." Sensing Luffy inner monolog, Ace explained. His hands reached for their own lunchboxes and swiftly placed it on the ground next to Sabo's.

The juicy looking meat. The high class fish topped with sticky sauce. The duck (or chicken?) with crispy, crunchy skin and tender flesh… And the rest of them which he didn't exactly know what they were but still looking and smelled all yummy.

_These are leftovers?_

_Aren't leftovers something that people usually about to throw away? They actually wanted to throw __**THESE**__?_

If possible, the nut-brown eyes only went bigger.

"Me and Ace always exchanged lunch." Added Sabo as he peered into Luffy's and Ace's lunchboxes. Baby blue eyes scanned the lunched in front before the orbs caught a very interesting sight.

"Is that…" Sabo murmured and leaned closer into Luffy's lunchbox. Stuffed in one of the lunchbox's compartments were green grapes, threaded together using a skewer while on the front grape, there was two dots made with icing in a shape of a circle and chocolate chips were placed inside the circles to create makeshifts eyes.

"… Caterpillars?"

Together, Luffy and Ace peeked at the said items and indeed, sets of green grape caterpillars stared right back at them. Three seconds after the blonds' revelation, both Ace and Sabo laughed while Luffy gaped at the grapes. To say he was surprised was clearly understatement. The boy was baffled at Kidd's creation.

Although he had to confess it was sort of… cute.

"It's cute! A grape caterpillar!" Sabo expressed his food for thought. "You brother made this?"

"Mm-hm." Nodding, Luffy picked one of the caterpillar ad stared animatedly at the chocolate chip eyes.

"And gingerbread biscuits. Neat." In a mid of munching on the Salmon in Lemon and Tarragon (from Sabo's lunchbox), Ace pointed at the said biscuits in Luffy's lunchbox. A gingerbread decorated biscuits using smarties for buttons, dark chocolate bits for mouth and silver cachous for eyes.

"Can I have one?" The blond referred to the smiling biscuits and smiled widely when Luffy nodded.

"Here I come, gingerbread. Raawwwrrr!" As Sabo picked up the biscuit, he made a roaring sound and chomped down the head of the gingerbread.

Still chomping, Sabo hummed excitedly at the sweet, cinnamon taste of the biscuit. "Ish good." He swallowed before continuing. "It's different from the one I always buy from the bakery. Did your brother made this one too?"

"No." Luffy shook his head. "Killer gave the biscuits yesterday."

At once, both Ace and Sabo halted their chewing and slowly turned to look at each other in a snail pace. The gingerbread legs still stuck out from Sabo's mouth.

_Killer? As in a dangerous murderer or Killer is actually someone's name? Wait, didn't he say it was Killer who gave the chocolate to Nami?_

Oblivious to the boys' flabbergasted expression, Luffy picked up the chicken wrap and started munching on his lunch, savoring the taste of the chicken tenderloin, the lemony dip and the salads, all wrapped inside a pita bread.

Almost chocking on the biscuit, Sabo pushed his lunchbox towards Luffy. "Here, have mine too."

After making his final swallow, Luffy's eyes roamed over the presented dishes. Few seconds later, he finally made his decision and scooped some of the Beef Wallington fillet (although he didn't know the name). The instant the beef invaded his taste buds, the boy almost swooned over. Everything about the dish was perfect, from the tender meat to the rich and complex taste of the sauce. Whatever reason for the creation of the perfect dish, it was delicious beyond explainable.

"Hey, Sabo. What's in that container?" The freckled boy gestured at the unopened container while his other hand was busy digging on the maple mashed sweet potato.

"That one?" Sabo looked over at the said container inside his lunch bag before grinning at the duo. "It's a surprise. I'll show you when we're done eating."

"Really?" Ace was all excited and quickly dumped more food, including his own beef sandwich and pizza wheels into Luffy's lunchbox. "Hurry and eat Luffy! We have to finish everything!"

Wide eyed, Luffy gazed at the piling food inside his container, slightly startled. How in the world—there was no way he could finish all that!

But in the end, Luffy did finish everything after twenty agonizing minutes. Along the way, he was certain he has never seen some of the foods in either Sabo's or Ace's lunchbox, but somehow they managed to materialize all of sudden inside his container. By now, the small boy felt like his tummy was about to burst any minute and once in a while, there was a weird sensation like the food was about to crawl from his belly and catapult itself from his throat.

To make the matter more puzzling than ever, Ace and Sabo looked perfectly normal although they ate at least twice his portion.

Anticipation bubbling inside Ace's tummy as he observed Sabo carefully took out the container from the lunch bag. Unlike the two others, only this one was tucked inside the insulating bag filled with ice pack. That could only mean one thing. Whatever inside the container needed to be chilled.

And yummy too.

"Taadaaa! It's a cake!" At last, Sabo presented the Woodland Fruit Cheesecake. A deliciously creamy cheesecake mouse topped with raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries, all of them on a biscuit base.

"Whooppiiee!" Ace cheered and licked his lips at the scrumptious looking dessert. "What's it called?"

"I don't know. But my dad said it's a sort of cheesecake."

Actually, his dad did tell him the full name of the cake, but last night, he was too sleepy to care whatever the old man was mumbling at eleven o'clock in the night.

On Luffy's side, however, the boy could be more terrified just by looking at the sliced cheesecake. Scrap that, it was a **VERY BIG** slice of cake. For a second there, he could have sworn he saw scarecrow-like face suddenly appeared on the cake with twiggy limbs growing from the dessert, making a persuasive gesture while letting out a horrendous snicker and said:

'Come on, boy. Don't you want to eat this unusual creamy and delicious body of mine?'

"Don't you want some, Luffy? It's good!" Sabo said through a mouthful and thrust a spoon into Luffy's sweaty hand, unaware of the boy's petrified look.

For the first time in his life, a mere cake managed to make Luffy felt like fainting.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx ****after School**** XxXxXxXxXxXxxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

The chilly gush of wind blew the flaming red hair and Kidd glad he had his bandanna on or else the strands would have poked into his eyes. While he leaned his frame against the gate wall, the mechanic watched the scampering children, every footstep made a crinkling sound as they stepped on fall out leaves. Times like that reminded him of warm, freshly bake apple pie, especially when surrounded by fragranced air, all crisp and cool against his skin.

His train of thought was gently interrupted by smaller fingers curling around his wrist. Even without looking down, Kidd already knew whom those warm fingers belonged to.

"It's kinda cold today. I'll make some hot tea when we get back." Kidd murmured, zipping Luffy's jacket further up to limit the exposure against the cold autumn wind.

"Let's go." The redhead said and started to walk away from the elementary school. While doing so, he reminded himself to pick Nami up from the vet, although he knew that Luffy would still remind him anyway.

Step by step, they walked in silence. It wasn't until the fifteenth steps later Kidd finally noticed something in the picture was definitely out of place. Spinning on his heels, his amber orbs roamed around to identify the misplaced subject.

The trees were fine. So were the road and the electric poles. The ground… uhuh, nothing suspicious so far. Ace… Luffy…?

Kidd blinked. Wait a second…

Ace…

Luffy…

…?

Odd. There seemed to be an addition to the convoy. And thus, the redhead did a double take.

Ace.

Luffy.

…?

"Kidd…?"Puzzled with the man's intense stare, Ace arched one eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

During that moment, Kidd could barely hear Ace's voice because his attention was 100% on the object of his bewilderment. There, stood right next to Ace was another unfamiliar boy, clad in a blue hoodie and navy authentic cargo. His naturally curly blond was cut short enough to keep the curls at bay, but the autumn wind starting to kink out the ends and makes him look a little undone.

"Who are you?" Drat. His voice was gruffer and ruder than Kidd had intended his tone to be, but he just could help it. The boy's presence was too sudden it actually sort of startled the mechanic. Luckily for him, the blond boy only smiled widely back at him, showing his missing tooth, his baby blue eyes shining with excited glint.

"Hi, I'm Sabo! Nice to meet you. You must be Luffy's brother!"

"Yeah, nice to meet—wait, wait, wait! That ain't what I wanted to say." Kidd shook his head. Of all things, he just had to go along, did he? "Who are—wait, that's not it. Do you guys know each other?"

Damn, that's one stupid question. He knew Luffy, doesn't he?

Ace gave a hopeless sigh, shooting you-are-a-retard look at Kidd. "Sabo's from other class. He also lives close to us. We always go to school and walk home together."

Giving an understanding 'o', they resumed walking down the street.

"How come I haven't seen you before?" The redhead asked while glancing at the boy.

"I had measles, so I had to stay home for two weeks."

Kidd nodded. That pretty much explained everything. "Where are you staying at?"

"Dressrosa." Sabo answered shortly.

The mechanic gave a 'wow' look. Everyone with enough brain knows that place. Located at the South Blue Road, Dressrosa was a well known luxury apartments, usually for those of a high class people. But unlike other luxury apartments that usually sat in the heart of busy cities, Dressrosa was lonesome apartments located far away from the noisy and crowded urban life.

Furthermore, it was actually close to theirs. Well, not that close-close, but close enough. So basically their home was in between Sabo's and Ace's.

"And it's on the top." Sabo added, making a small jump as he tried to catch the falling leaves midair.

Oh it's on top—huh?

Kidd frowned. On the top of an apartment building… Isn't that what they call…

"You live in a penthouse?!" It took every ounce of his will not to shout, but Kidd's voice was still loud enough to be heard throughout the street.

Startled with the sudden change of behavior, the three boys glanced at each other before giving Kidd a funny look. In children's way of course.

"Yeah… I-I guess…" Sabo shrugged nonchalantly.

Rich aside, this Sabo kid is filthy rich!

From top to bottom, Kidd started to size the boy up. Nothing about him suggested his status. Normal attire, normal attitude, and even his manner of speech were like a typical boy at his age, it didn't reveal a slightest hint regarding his class.

Safe enough to assume the boy was an odd ball.

"Hey do you guys have math homework today?" Sabo turned to Ace and Luffy.

"Yeah…" Ace answered sourly. "Equivalent fraction. I hate math."

"Same!" The blond referred to his same degree of hatred towards that particular subject and the same math worksheet. "Let's do it together. And oh, we have science too."

The freckled boy snickered. "Heh, our class doesn't have that. Hey Luffy," Ace called for the smaller boy and since he was walking next the mechanic's left side, Luffy had to jut his head a bit to look passed through Kidd's frame. "Wanna do homework together? You're good in math, right?"

From Ace, the small boy looked up at his brother, silently asking for permission.

"That's nice. You can finish up your homework faster then." The redhead voiced out.

As he took that as a 'yes', Sabo did an air-punch. "So whose place?"

"Kidd's house." Ace simply answered.

At once, the said man chocked on his own saliva before asking a double 'WH' questions. "What? Why?"

"If we go to Sabo's place, then I'll have to walk far and if it's my place, then its Sabo's turn to walk far. Yours in the middle, it's perfect. Besides, Sabo's allergic to dogs and we have dogs in our place right now." Ace ended his reasoning with a slight 'duh' look.

Damn, this kid is good in persuading.

No matter how much Kidd wanted to suppress it, a small defeated sigh still managed to escape from his lips.

"Fine, fine. But don't forget to tell your dad. The last thing I want is a pirate-looking vet going all banana and tears the whole town to search for his cub."

Teeth bared, Ace bristled at the smirking adult.

Nevertheless, they still made a pit-stop at the vet a.k.a Ace's house since taking Nami back home was on Kidd's to-do-list. With the familiar orange carrier in his hand, the mechanic finally emerged back with Nami meowing excitedly. Upon his arrival, Kidd noticed the missing member of the little convoy.

"Where's Ace?"

"He went inside to grab some cookies." Sabo murmured, peeking at the kitten through the carrier door. Like any other normal boys, the blond was itching to open the carrier and stroke the soft looking, multicolor fur.

"She's a bit energetic right now, so don't open the carrier. You can play with her back at the house." Kidd warned, sensing the boys urge to play with the kitten. For just a little bit, Sabo was seen pouting but his mood bounced back immediately when Nami pawed through the hole of the carrier and touched Sabo in the nose.

While waiting for Ace, Luffy leaned against his brother. The cool autumn breeze along with his still full tummy was starting to make him drowsy. Seeing the child looking all sleepy, Kidd rubbed his shoulder to stimulate the boy's consciousness in which Luffy responded by nuzzling further into the mechanic's side.

"He sure does take his time." Kidd murmured, referring to the freckled boy. "Is he planning to bring the whole—"

All of sudden, a loud screech echoed throughout the vet, cutting Kidd's next word efficiently.

"SHANKS! YOU ATE THE WHOLE JAR OF THE PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE COOKIES!"

There was a moment of silence where Kidd and Sabo exchanged a questioning glance. Even Luffy was fully awake by now. Seconds later, another shriek followed.

"LIAR! THERE'S CRUMBS ON YOUR CHEEK!"

Uhh ooohh… So the tiger cub finally learned how to roar…

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx ****Late Evening**** XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Sabo." Kidd called out from the kitchen.

"Hnn…?" The blond kid used a non-verbal way to acknowledge the call since his attention was more on Nami. The kitten however, didn't return the attention as she was too busy chewing on the catnip-filled mouse doll. With their homework done about an hour ago, the boys were finally free with their own devices—Sabo and Luffy playing with the calico while Ace reading his comic on the sofa.

Hands holding two brown, small paper bags, Kidd emerged from the kitchen. "Have you called your dad?"

"Yeah. Like hours ago—whooaa!" Wide eyed, Sabo cheered when the calico managed to catch the mouse in midair. She gnawed on the artificial prey and refused to release it even after Luffy tried to tug the toy away from her.

As Kidd strolled closer to the living room where the children were, Nami instantly changed her target. Those gleaming eyes narrowed in mischievous at the approaching legs.

One…

Two…

Pounce!

"Oww—oww—oww!" Kidd hissed and glared down at the multicolor blob attached to his leg. "Nami, I'm not a scratching post!"

The calico's eyes twinkled with mischief as she clung to the mechanic's calf, her little claws sunk into the skin. Sighing, Kidd scooped the kitten up and held her up so they were nose to nose.

"Bad. Kitty." The redhead gently dropped the calico on top of Luffy's head before the feline scrambled down onto the boy's laps and started kneading the fabric under her paws.

"Here." The man handed the paper bag to both Sabo and Ace where both boys quickly peered into the bag. Half a dozen chocolate cookies were placed inside, all in a shape of mummy—creamy vanilla frosting for bandages, jelly beans for eyes and black gel for pupils—courtesy from Killer.

"Mummy cookies!" Ace exclaimed, still lying on his stomach with the half-read comic in front of him. "I can't show Shanks this! He likes chocolate cookies!"

"Well," Kidd winked at the freckled boy. "You just have to protect them with your life. Bite his hands if you must."

Ace huffed in determination. "Hn, I will."

Oh the thing Kidd would do just to see the eccentric veterinarian getting bitten by his cub.

Sabo cackled at his friend's dilemma. "My dad doesn't like sweet so much. So I'm safe."

Chuckling, Kidd took a sit on the sofa and decided to watch some evening news. That is until the sound of the door bell can be heard from the front hallway.

Odd, he wasn't expecting anyone at the moment. It was five seconds later that Kidd finally stood up and headed to the door with a small weary sigh. If Killer decided to show up at time like this, he would make sure the blond stays away from his cat, five meters minimum. He was the main reason for Nami's little incident after all.

But it wasn't Killer who stood by the doorway. It was the eccentric, red haired veterinarian looking all sparkling like a daisy in crack of dawn.

Dear lord, he really isn't good in dealing with this man. "What are you doing here?"

"To pick up Ace, of course. It's getting late. Who knows what kind of beast dwells at this hour."

_That'll be the last thing that you need to worry about. Your son's glower is more than enough to send those beasts scurrying for higher ground._

"It's not even dark yet." Kidd shook his head but his next word died instantly in his throat when his eyes caught another man standing close to Shanks. Amber eyes widened as they took in the extremely tall person who stood casually. This probably his first time Kidd actually had to look up just to see someone in the face. Kidd was 6'4", but compared with this man, he looked like a damn midget.

Hidden by the purple tinted sunglasses, Kidd could have sworn the man was staring back at him with interest, if the widening smirk was any indication. For the next few seconds, the redhead took in the man's appearance. Blond and tanned, the man was clad in bone-white three piece suit and with the three-button closure of his jacket undone; Kidd could clearly see the coordinating vest overtopped the petal-pink dress shirt. The tie was long gone and the top two buttons of the shirt too, unfastened while both his ears were pierced with gold loop earring.

'**SLAM!'**

Without warning, Kidd slammed the door shut right in front of Shanks' face.

It was merely out of instinct. No, really. It was.

"Err, Kidd? Why did you close the door?" Shanks' voice was muffled by the closed door.

Kidd stared at the door with hesitation. "I'm not sure if you have notice it, but there's someone behind you that looks like a mafia king with a criminal past."

A hysterical laughter followed after and it only ended after a solid minute.

"A mafia?" Shanks tried to stifle his laugh but a snort came instead. "He's Sabo's dad!"

In that instant, Kidd opened the door fast enough it almost collided with his own face.

"You're Sabo's dad?!" Oh wow, he did a lot of screaming today, didn't he?

"In the flesh. Don Quixote Doflamingo at your service." The tall man said in a deep voice.

"Kidd. Eustass Kidd." Out of courtesy, Kidd offered his name. Half of his mind still found it hard to digest the newfound information.

Not waiting for an invitation, the man called Doflamingo proceeded making his way in. "Well nice to meet—oww!"

And hit his forehead against the top of the door frame.

"Damn, your door is small." Doflamingo winced, rubbing his bruised forehead.

"It's the standard size. You're the one who's larger than life." The mechanic huffed, stepping aside to let the visitors in.

The tall blond couldn't stop the grin from splitting his face. Now this is new. There weren't many out there who have enough balls to talk back at him considering his size and appearance, yet the redhead now was glaring at him without batting an eyelid.

"Wha—dad?" Sabo looked a bit taken back at his father's sudden arrival. "I told you I'll walk back home on my own."

"I prefer this." Doflamingo shrugged, slowly advancing to the sofa. "Knock on someone's door and surprise people. Fuffuffuffuffuffu."

If eccentricity can be measured, this guy's was definitely off chart.

Most of the occupants in the house were expecting the man to flop down on the couch or maybe raid the kitchen like he owned the bloody place. What they didn't expect was for him to stand right in front of Luffy before crouching down so he could be in the direct line of the child's vision.

"So you're Sabo's new friend, huh?" Doflamingo said, looming over the child with searching eyes. On instinct, Luffy backed away a little, feeling impose of the man being so close but his journey didn't go far when the tall blond suddenly sneaked his hands under the boy's armpits and stood up straight, holding Luffy midair.

As this was his first time being held up high like this, Luffy had a hard time grasping the situation. And when he did, the raven-haired boy let out a small squeak, his sock-clad legs flailing high above the ground.

"Look Shanks! This boy is so tiny! Like a hamster. You sure you didn't kidnap this kid and claimed him as your brother?" Doflamingo grinned, clearly enjoying the way the small boy squirmed in his hands.

Panic dawned over Eustass Kidd at the taught that the sudden contact by a stranger might trigger something and freaked Luffy out. Quickly, the redhead strode to their direction in hope to retrieve his brother as soon as possible, but he stood dead on his track when the child did something unimaginable. At least for Kidd's standard.

"I'm not… tiny." Luffy disagreed with the Doflamingo's statement, short legs still hopelessly kicking the air.

For a moment or two, Kidd blinked in wonder. His little brother who always held himself back when it comes to expressing thought is now denying the man. Who would have thought that?

Doflamingo cackled at the boy's respond, slowly lowering little Luffy on the armrest of the sofa. "Fuffuffuffuffu. My bad, my bad. Don't worry. You'll grow big like your brother one day, yeah?"

The second he was perched on the armrest, Kidd let out a relief sigh but unfortunately, Luffy lost his balance and ended up tumbling backward onto the soft cushion. The cute performance only made Doflamingo to laugh harder than ever.

Shoulders still shaking from the laughing aftermath, the tall blond inched closer to Sabo and winced slightly when his knee bumped against the edge of the coffee table.

"You got everything packed up?"

Zipping close his bag pack, Sabo nodded and stood up. "Yeah."

While Kidd helped Luffy to sit back, the mechanic glanced at the blond duo. Now that he had a closer look, those two do resemble each other, even by the tiniest. For instant, they both have blond hair with laidback manner and Kidd would bet every penny that the man too, possessed the same blue eyes.

"I'm off first, Red Hair." Doflamingo proclaimed, ruffling Ace's hair a bit and the freckled boy only grumbled under the ministration.

Both Kidd and Shanks looked at each other while the blond duo moved to the door. Just which redhead did the man referred to?

"Bye Luffy, bye Ace! See ya tomorrow!" Sabo waved frantically before exiting the apartment, his father in tow.

"You guys are good friends?" Kidd turned at the animal doctor, referring to Doflamingo as another party.

Shanks shook his head, petting the calico on the floor and winced slightly when Nami sunk her teeth into his skin playfully. "Nah. But we're close enough. We went to same university, different department though."

"Is he…" The redhead paused momentarily; his eyes caught the sight of Ace secretly shoving his precious bag filled cookies into the depth of his bag. "uhh… a single father too?"

Eyes amused, the animal doctor looked up from the floor. "Why do you say that?"

"Curious." Kidd admitted, glaring at the kitten that was ready to leap onto his laps. The feline probably wanted to use his laps as her kneading material again.

"It's just a hunch though. I was raised by my dad, so this Doflamingo guy pretty much had the same impression like him. Creepy? Hell yeah. But the air around him is the same."

"You guess that right. But before you ask about his wife, I'm going to tell you beforehand. He never had one."

Feeling slightly confused, Kidd furrowed his brows. "What? If you tell me his kid was delivered by a stork, I'll start throwing punches."

Then Shanks beckoned for the mechanic to lean closer as though he was about to tell the government's dirty little secret. "Doflamingo's gay."

Alright, now it's getting more confused.

"Huh? Then, the kid…?"

"Oh, the kid is his alright." Shanks waved his hair airily and snorted. "It just came out of nowhere. One day he was dating a man, and the next day he was like 'Oh, I want to have a brat on my own!' and then bam! Just like that, Sabo came to the world. That guy is so random! Dahahahahaha!"

Kidd made a face and whispered back. "I don't want to hear that from you. So what? Surrogate mother?"

"What else? His money can pay dozens of surrogates and he can have children enough to make a football team if he wants to."

Oh, so he was right about that Sabo's family status. They're damn filthy rich!

They finally finished with the top secret conversation, only to find Ace and Luffy were giving a funny look. A look that clearly said you-guys-are-retards-because-we-can-hear-you-from-here.

Feeling a tad flustered, Shanks feigned a cough and slowly stood up, beckoning his son to follow suit. "We better leave now."

Without much thinking, the animal doctor reached out to pick up Ace's bag pack, only to have his hand clawed at by the owner. What worse is, the boy even bristled at him.

Oh no. He still mad with the whole cookies incident, isn't he? He can't help it, alright? It was just one of those moments where you had this sudden urge for something to nibble on and there the cookies were, sitting all content like a cucumber on the kitchen counter top. What else he was supposed to do? Ignore it?

In Shanks' book, that's equivalent to committing a big sin.

Scratching his non-itching head, Shanks let out a defeated sight. Guess he had to buy another jar of cookie to make up for it. Scratch that, make it two big jars.

Kidd only watched in amusement as Shanks left the house with a sulking Ace next to him.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx ****Night**** XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

Covered by the comforter, Luffy stared at the ceiling, smacking his lips a few times. The minty aroma from the toothpaste still lingered inside his mouth and honestly, the child enjoyed it. As much as he enjoyed his day, being around Ace and Sabo.

Yet, why did the strange feeling remain as it was?

"Luffy?" Kidd said softly, taking a seat on the bed, the mattress creaked under his weight. He noticed the way his brother was spacing, like something was bothering him. Something new that the child couldn't figure out what it is.

"Something's wrong?"

The said child was voiceless, only chose to answer his brother after a moment or two passed. "Sabo said I'm his friend because I'm a friend of Ace."

It took a while for Kidd to comprehend the boy's dilemma. And when he did, the man's eyes softened. Long before Luffy came into his life, the child's days were filled with nothing but anguish and pain, his night on the other hand engulfed in endless strain where emptiness built a home in him. He wasn't there when all that happened, but somehow Kidd could almost hear just how much pain, how much fear and how much suffering had filled Luffy's cries for help. With that being said, they were so many things in life Luffy was unfamiliar with despite he was already reaching eight. Friendship was one of them.

"You don't like being around them?" The redhead asked softly.

Luffy quickly shook his head in denial. "It feels funny…" With his small finger, the child pointed at where his heart located. "Here."

"When they were around you, it felt warm, right?" Kidd placed his hands on the child's chest, feeling the boy's heart beating strong under his palm. "Like a fluffy blanket."

Slowly, the child nodded and the redhead removed his hand only to have it placed on Luffy's head.

"Look, Luffy. A friend is pretty much everything that makes your life good and happy. It's someone you turn to, who stands by you, makes you smile, encourages you, treasures you and many more. Words can't exactly describe what a friend is, so you need to learn them yourself, 'kay?"

Again, the boy nodded, absorbing every of his brother's words. Then, Luffy stretched out his hands, a silent way to request for a hug in which Kidd gladly complied.

"You'll be alright." Kidd murmured into the boy's cold hair, his hands draped over Luffy's small back.

After detangling himself from the boy, the mechanic readjusted the comforter covering Luffy's body, smoothing down any apparent wrinkles before proceeding to turn off the light. "G'night."

In the solemn darkness, Kidd's words rang inside the child's mind. Without doubt, being around Ace and Sabo was like being wrapped by a soft blanket in the middle of cold winter. It brought peace and relax, almost like a cocoon of warmth, kindness and fun.

It was heartwarming and cozy.

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N: I know, I know. A lot of at the moment must be like 'Doflamingo?! WTF?!'. It's just like I kept on telling you guys, all the characters here are a big surprise. Ngehehehehehe *Evil laugh***


	11. Kidd's Disaster Manual

**Chapter 11: Kidd's Disaster Manual**

**A/N: I was planning to write this probably for the next two chapter, but since everyone is pretty much eager for the boys' visit to Kidd's workplace, so voila! This is the end result. Hope this one would make you guys squeal in happiness because I sure did! .**

**PS: I'm not sure if you guys notice it, in the previous chapter, I've totally made a huge mistake on Thatch's hair color by describing it as platinum blond. But it turns out its actually orange brown. What a blunder…**

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxo**

_~~Kill Kon Kan Kon~~_

Ace frowned heavily at the sound of the school bell. Up until now, he still couldn't fathom the motive behind that ridiculous tune. Seemed to him, the hymn is far more suitable being hummed in a graveyard.

As the freckled boy contemplated over the mystery, he packed his books along with his stationeries into his bag, ready to scram from the hectic school. It was Friday, so Ace was pleased, though he had yet to plan for the upcoming weekend. Perhaps coming over to Sabo's place with Luffy would be a good idea and they could indulge themselves with video games and snacks all day long.

That is, **IF** Sabo's eccentric papa isn't there. That man is plainly odd and by just being around him was already overwhelming.

Through the corner of his cognac-brown eyes, Ace saw Luffy making his way towards his desk, hauling his bag pack with his much smaller shoulders. Even though they were at the same age, Luffy was a head shorter than him and Sabo and the freckled boy couldn't help but to question the reason why. After all, Kidd was a without doubt a big guy, so how is it possible for Luffy, his brother, to not possess the same feature as him?

Hmm… Still, he preferred Luffy just the way he is. Really, wouldn't it be weird for Luffy to have red hair and inches taller and bigger than him and Sabo? Ace couldn't help but to shudder at that thought. What's more, with Luffy being smaller, it makes him feels somewhat responsible for his well-being.

Is this what it feels like having a brother?

So the moment Luffy arrived at his desk, Ace responded by placing both hands on the other's shoulders and gave a serious look.

"Just stay the way you are. Don't grow any bigger."

And Luffy only responded by corking his head to the side and gave a rather funny look.

Seconds later, the classroom door slid open and Sabo strolled in with a small frown. "What took you guys so long? I'm getting tired waiting on my own…"

"The teacher was discussing about the track and field day and he kept on talking…" Ace answered as he hauled his bag on one shoulder before proceeding to exit the class.

"Yeah? So has your class decided who's going to join what?" Asked the blond boy as they walked along the school hallway in a slow pace.

"Nope." Ace's voice was all loud since the hallway was quite packed with scampering children, he had to raise his voice an octave to overpower the background noise. "We've only chose which events our class is going to take part. They say this year each class doesn't have to participate in all events. We only have to choose three to five."

Sabo grinned at that. "I know. Because I heard there'll be games after the track and field."

"Hnn, I don't care about the games… I think I'm going to join hurdle or relays." The freckled boy laced his fingers behind his head and by now, they had exited the school building and headed towards the gate.

"I like games. That's the only time where we can play unfair and still win." Kicking the innocent pebble on the ground, Sabo smiled cheekily at both Ace and Luffy.

"Well, usually family can participate in the games, so I still hate it." Ace retorted and earned himself a scandalized look from Sabo.

"What?!" The blond shouted, startling a few children whose standing by the gate. "Family can join in? Forget it! There's no way I'm going to let 'him' join."

While his blond friend mumbled, presumably plotting something diabolical to his own father, Ace let his eyes to wonder around, searching for a familiar red-haired man. But instead, his eyes landed on an EXTREMELY familiar figure that was leaning against an obsidian black pearl, face-lift sport car parked at the road side—the wide body design along with the sport tuned suspension not only give the car an aggressive road presence but also highlighted its sporty design.

"YOUR DAD!" Ace gasped in horror, his eye balls, metaphorically speaking, almost popped out of his eye sockets.

"Yeah, yeah I know…" Not noticing his friend's traumatized look, Sabo kept on mumbling to himself. "I'm thinking about locking him in the bathroom on the track and field day—"

In desperation, Ace hold both side of the blonds' head and swivel it towards a specific direction. "I mean your dad's here!"

"Huh?!" Similar to Ace, Sabo's eyes too bulged out. "What's he doing here?!" The boy moaned in dismay before pulling both Ace's and Luffy's arms. "Quick! Let's use the back gate and run before he sees—"

Two seconds too late. The tall blond man already spotted the children before they could as much make a quick escape and waved his hand lazily. His son was the first of the trio to make a whimpering sound before the said boy stomped his way towards his grinning father.

"Dad! What are you doing here? I thought I've told you not to ever ever ever ever ever come to school." At the end of his sentence, there was a hint of pout in Sabo's voice. The man's appearance, by sense, wasn't all that extraordinary, but it was the size, the grin and the shades that terrorize people. Around him, the blond boy could see the lower grade kids were scampering away from them to seek refuge and some of the waiting parents murmuring to each other, gossiping. No doubt about that. Maybe Kidd did have a point. His father does resemble a mafia king with a criminal past. The only thing that saves him at the moment was probably the fact that he was wearing a light olive vested suit, engendering a rather sophisticated aura all over him.

That, or because the lack of any weaponry.

"Hnn?" raising an eyebrow, Doflamingo didn't as much cringe at his son's charging. Or to be more precise, he found the pouting face was somewhat cute. "What's wrong with me picking up my own son?"

_Everything. You're too creepy and making those toddlers cries._

Sabo eyed his father from top to bottom. Everything about Doflamingo screamed 'work' and 'meeting'. "Aren't you supposed to be still at work?"

Another grin marred Doflamingo's face. Really, until now, Sabo still couldn't understand how his father managed to maintain the grin without having a muscle cramp.

"I escaped—cough—I mean… the meeting finished early!" Doflamingo chirped at the end of his sentence only to have Sabo giving him a dubious look. Not good. "Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's scram before anyone calls the police again."

While the man ushered his son into the car, Sabo mumbled under his breath. "Whose fault is it?"

Then, Doflamingo turned back towards Ace and Luffy, startling the boys greatly, Ace felt his skin prickled. "You guys too. Get into the car~~."

"What? No!" Defiant as ever, Ace refused the man's invitation. "We'll walk. And Kidd's going to pick us up anyway."

The man waved his hand dismissively. "No worries. I've already told Shanks to tell that redhead guy about me picking up you guys."

Before further protest could be voiced out, Doflamingo scooped the children up, ignoring the screaming and flailing in his arms before tossing them into the backseat. Three small bodies, all bundled up at the backseat on top of each other while yelping incoherently, the man couldn't help but to chuckle in amusement at the view. In his deranged eyes, they were like a bundle of hamsters, especially with all squirming and squeaking.

"Alright boys, buckle up." Doflamingo reminded the children as he closed the driver's door.

"Wait, dad!" Baby blue eyes widened in alarmed when Sabo noticed the giddy look on his father's face. "We haven't put on the SEAAATTBEELLT—urkk!"

Too bad the rest of the boy's words were cut off given that Doflamingo has already stepped on the gas pedal and the car zoom off with a speed of 110 mph. What worse is, not only Sabo had accidentally bit own tongue, he's even tumbled down the floor before a water bottle hit his head in which he didn't distinguish to whom it belongs to.

"Arrkkkk! Slow down, old m-man!" Ace was unable to retort properly considering he was now laying face flat on the seat with his and Luffy's limbs tangling together. It took quite some time to untangle those heaps of limbs and when they finally succeeded it, another shriek followed through. "Wrong way! Wrong way! Sabo's dad, we've already missed the junction!"

"Hm—mm." Without so much hint of shaken in his voice, not to mention remorse, the man only hummed and mumbled, "Actually I was thinking to take this car to the workshop to do some tweaking here and there. Might as well bring you kids along…"

"HUH?!" The children chorused together. Oh yeah, that includes little Luffy of course. But unfortunately, their cries of protest didn't reach the man's ears as Doflamingo was currently humming an unrecognizable tune, clearly in jolly mood.

This might be the first time, but Ace really thought he would rather see Shanks than dealing with Doflamingo's craziness after all.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

_**Sender: Red-Haired Shanks**_

_Wassup! Wassup! Wassup! Such a nice weather today isn't? All cloudy and windy, although I still prefer summer's hot and sunny days. I remember this one island I used to visit during my college year where the water is as clear as crystal and the sand is warm, you just wanted to roll on them all they long! And I like the rum. They have the best rum ever and at one point I've started calling it healing water. Dahahahahaha! Can you believe it? Rum as healing water? And oh! That island was the very place where I met my wife and she looked really nice in her white sleeveless, sweep dress and—blah—blah—blah—blah—blah—blah—blah— _

Five minutes has passed since Kidd had flipped open his cellphone and yet, the redhead still couldn't uncover the REAL message behind the extra long text sent by the veterinarian. One moment he was talking about the weather, and the next moment he was referring to god-knows-where Summer Island, then the beaches and now even the wifey came into the story. This is ridiculous! Just what is this guy trying to say?!

"Something's wrong?" As Killer approached his harassed looking friend, the blond mumbled, his lips were busy creating a balloon out of his blackcurrant flavored bubble gum. He noticed that Kidd has been having an eye-staring contest with his phone for more than five minutes and the wrinkled on his forehead went deeper with every passing second.

Killer peered into the screen of Kidd's phone. "What the text says?"

"Honestly…" The redhead used the spanner as a make-shift scratcher to scratch his non-itching head. "I don't even know myself."

Now it was Killer's turn to wear a slightly confused expression.

"Here, try reading this and then tell me what the fuck exactly this guy is trying to say." Kidd handed his phone to his co-worker and electric blue eyes wasted no time to scan over the text.

"Let's see…" The blond started. "Weather…island… sand… rum… wife… oh?" The thin eyebrow rose with slight interest.

"Killer, focus!"

"Yeah, right, sorry..." The said man coughed sheepishly and continued skimming through the rest of the text. "Wait, I think I see his main point."

In need for a better look, Kidd leaned closer and jutted out his neck. "What? Where?"

"Here. See?" Slim finger went to tap the phone screen, exactly at the last line of the text and Kidd's eyes quickly glanced over the sentence.

"—_blah—blah—blah—blah. Btw, Doflamingo is going to pick up the boys. XDD"_

It took approximately ten seconds for the redhead to absorb the information and once he did, Kidd's brows fall into a very deep crease. Why-oh-why does he have a very bad feeling about this? Because at the moment, he felt his heart rate suddenly increase in terms of intensity, tiny little beads of sweats starting to materialize on his forehead and apprehension was gnawing inside him like crazy and at a certain point, even his breaths came out in a little, harsh gasps. The symptoms of upcoming panic attack might as well been too obvious since Killer had opted to pop his chewing-gum balloon and offered a concern look.

"You ok?" Mid-chewing, Killer rubbed the back of the redhead's to prevent any hyperventilating incident from occurring. "Who's Doflamingo?"

To increase his carbon dioxide in order for him not to hyperventilate, Kidd breathed through his pursed lips as though he was blowing out a candle. Once he felt calm enough, it was only then the mechanic started to speak in a soft relaxed tone.

"Remember when I told you that Luffy made friends and one of them is a blond kid? Well, this 'Doflamingo' guy is that kid's dad."

"So? What's the problem?"

"Everything about that guy screams problem." Kidd cringed, resting his weight on one leg as he leaned against the column. "He's big, like much more bigger than me, and although he wears a three piece suit that probably cost three months of our paycheck, he still looks like a villain on Saturday's morning cartoon."

Without missing a beat, Killer interrupted the redhead. "And he grins like a Cheshire Cat, has gold loop on both ears and wears purple shades?"

"Yeah, that and—" Kidd paused and stared blankly at the blond. "How… did you know...?"

"Because he's standing right behind you." The blond continued swiftly.

S-I-L-E-N-C-E.

In a slow motion, Kidd turned his head slightly, just enough to catch a—gulp—godly recognizable man staring back down at him. Their proximity was in fact, too close that the startled mechanic ended up elbowing the man's crotch (almost) and Kidd could even get a whiff of his cologne—a conflicting upper notes of mint and basil that counterbalanced the leatherwood tones.

"Fuck!" On instinct, Kidd leaped forward like an antelope, almost colliding with Killer in the process.

"Language, dear Eustass, language…" Shoving his hand into the side pocket of his pants, Doflamingo made a 'tsk-ing' noise as though he was scolding a small child. "And it's rude to speak badly behind someone's back."

Kidd huffed and returned the man's smirk with a glower instead. But given than he was—cough—shorter than the man, his attempt to intimidate was a least success. "It's okay if it's the truth." A short pause. "Wait, weren't you supposed to pick up Luffy and the others from school?"

"Done that." Mumbled the blond as he took off his shades only to wipe the surface with his handkerchief. Kidd was right all along. Sabo does inherit his baby blue eyes from this eccentric man. Without those shades on, he looked somewhat… civilized.

"The brats are in the car."

"What—" Mid-sentence, the mechanic's amber eyes followed to where Doflamingo was pointing until they landed on the obviously expensive car. As his mechanic's instinct kicked in, Kidd couldn't help but to eyeball the car—in front, the car's features sharpened bumper corners and wide, blacked-out fog lamps nacelles to emphasize the car's 'wide and low' concept, the jutting lip spoiler with three-dimensional detailing highlights the car's sporty intent while the front grille with a black grille inset and blacked-out wing set off the highlights' shape to give the entire front end more powerful appearance.

Now that's a real beauty, as quoted by Thatch. Even Killer seemed to appreciate the view by whistling lowly. Too bad that beauty belongs to his least favorite creature in this world. And his brother is inside that creature's car.

Focus Eustass!

Five long strides were all it required for Kidd to reach the car and he didn't wait for any warrant or permission to open the back door, but what happened next almost made him to jump almost three feet high in the air. Without warning, a small bundle stumbled through the opened door and lied limp on the garage floor with his legs still inside the car.

"Sabo?! What the hell happened to you?" Wide-eyed, Kidd gaped at the wilting body and just for a mere second, he could have sworn there were stars and moons dancing above the boy's head. Bending down, the redhead helped the blond kid to get on his feet and for a moment or two, Sabo staggered like a drunkard before muttering…

"I'm gonna be sick…"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Kidd said in alarmed. "Quick, Killer! Take him to the toilet!"

"What? Me?" Flabbergasted, Killer almost chocked on his gum.

"Yes, you! Hurry dammit!"

Given no room for any disagreement, Killer had no choice but to lift up the sick boy and ran towards the toilet with a living bundle dangling hopelessly in his arms. As soon as his fellow co-worker disappeared behind the door, Kidd finally turned his attention towards another two occupants only to have another series of panic attack. Deep inside the car, Luffy's upper body was spotted trapped in between the front seats while his legs kicking the back cushions feebly, obviously the child attempt to unstuck himself was only for naught. Ace, on the other hand, was perched on top of the head of the passenger seat with his body suspended only by his tummy, no less. Incoherent noise was murmured and the mechanic had to strain his hearing to catch those words.

"N-no more… Car… Stop—urrghh…"

Mouth ajar, Kidd turned to the other. "What did you do to them?"

"Yeah, about that…" Now that his shades were back on, the redhead had a hard time to identify Doflamingo's exact expression. If there's anything, it was nowhere close to remorse. "They were many corners, so I couldn't help it."

"Help what?" One eyebrow rose.

"To drift."

Now both eyebrows reached Kidd's hairline. "You tested your drifting skills when they're inside without wearing seatbelts…?"

A simple shrug was all his answer. "It was fun… until Ace managed to kick me in the face. Almost broke my nose. See?"

True to his words, there were rolled tissues stuffed up his nostrils and when Doflamingo pulled them out, they were soaked in red blood.

Hm, so Doflamingo's blood is red after all huh. Oh hey, why did he assume the man's blood wasn't red? Really, not a good distraction.

For the next few minutes, Kidd had to practice his own breathing skill and prayed that his migraine wouldn't choose to come and visit him at this time around. Breathe In. Breathe Out. Breathe In. Breath Out. The process repeated for another good ten cycles and it was only then the mechanic finally opened his eyes and dove into the car. Ace was the first victim to receive the help since not only the freckled boy was closer, it was also due to the fact that his case was… less severe. With an extra care as though the boy was a porcelain doll, Kidd lifted the small frame off the head of the front seat and placed him on the backseat because the redhead just knew Ace was still in condition to walk.

Hell, he doubted the kid could even stand on his own.

While Ace was busy gathering his shattered mind together, the mechanic went further into what he considered as a hell hole to grab Luffy.

"Stay still, Luffy. Just let me…" After some pushing and pulling, Kidd somewhat managed to free his brother from the evil clutch of the front carbon black leather seats.

"…You ok?" Pale fingers went to brush Luffy's long bangs to the side from obscuring the child's eyes and as soon as the startled nut-brown met with concerned amber, a confused frown adorned the raven's face. It appeared that Luffy was too occupied fighting with the evil seats that he has been disregarding his surroundings, including the presence of his brother. Nevertheless, the boy still acknowledged Kidd's earlier question by nodding his head.

"Can you stand?" Kidd saw another nod coming and assumed that despite Luffy's earlier situation, he wasn't trashed in the head as much as the other two unlucky boys and his assumption was proven to be the least wrong when his brother was able to stand on his two feet by himself.

In the meantime, Doflamingo came from behind and approached Ace who's still seen limping at the backseat.

"Heh, sorry about that." The man said apologetically (most unlikely) as he ruffled the untamed raven hair. Eyes twitching erratically, the vein on boy's forehead popped out and throbbed in annoyance.

And thus, without warning, Ace gave Sabo's dad a piece of his mind regarding the man's reckless way of driving—a strong, harsh head-butt into Doflamingo's unprepared chin.

"Don't you dare drive like that again, old man! You almost killed us!"

Sharp, intense pain exploded in his jaw and for a split second, stars were dancing happily behind his eyelids as Doflamingo staggered back. You could pretty much guess the strength and impact of the headbutt had on the man judging by the way the blond man groaned and thus, another series of nosebleed was back. With an unholy satisfaction, Ace finally jumped out of the car with a huff and wobbled his way towards Kidd and gripped the hem of redhead's shirts for a better support.

That little performance somehow managed to pull an amused snort from Kidd. Hands to god, he must be the biggest liar if he wasn't the least pleased with the view of Doflamingo cringing while he rubbed his bruised jaw and leaned his towering body against the car. Thumbs up to Ace for having a hard head although the mechanic couldn't help but to ponder from whom the boy inherited that technique. Certainly useful when you're dealing with someone as eccentric as Doflamingo.

"Luffy's here too?" Killer, who had just returned from the toiler with Sabo in tow, raised his eyebrows almost in disbelief.

"LUFFY?!" Almost in chorus, all the workers in the garage exclaimed and paused on whatever they've been working on. Even Thatch who was seen taking a nap on the couch suddenly sprang up like a daffodil in spring.

Kidd frowned. What the—last time he checked, his brother wasn't a renowned celebrity so why did all these people getting all worked up for?

Between all workers, Bonney was the first to bulldoze her way towards the redhead. "You weren't kidding! It really is Red's little brother." The pinkette slapped Killer's back with more force than necessary, causing the blond to stumble forward. Unlike her co-worker, she wore black cargo pants, a matching black boots, coupled with a white bandeau top with anchor print that revealed her pierced belly button.

"Is it me or he's bigger than the last time we saw him?" Bonney continued as she gazed intently at the boy.

"She's wearing only a bra…" Ace murmured loud enough, bafflement was reflected in those cognac eyes.

The redhead felt the ability keep his mouth from gapping had long deserted him ever since Doflamingo and the gang arrived, more so when he heard the boy's comment.

"I don't even want to know where you learn that word, just don't repeat it again. And you," The redhead directed his gaze towards the pinkette. "For once, why can't you wear something decent since you're the only woman here surrounded by almost half a dozen of perverted guys." Kidd paused momentarily. "Except for me and Kill though… almost."

"What?!" Bonney retorted incredulously, placing both hands on her hips, momentarily forgetting that they were children present in the garage. Less than two meters away from them, no less. "This is a car workshop, not a hotel ballroom. It's too hot to wear t-shirt around here and the grease and oil is just going to leave a stain."

Rolling his eyes, Kidd snorted. "Uhuh, and that bikini top causes a lot of accidents around here. Remember that time your bikini strap snapped? Two of us here got hospitalized because Thatch almost chopped off his own arm and Ero-Salom with a major nose bleed."

"Oh don't worry, Red. It won't happen again. This one ties at the back and strapless and have padding so I don't have to worry about my nipp—mmpphh!"

She wasn't the given the chance to finish up her sentence when a hand suddenly came from behind and covered her mouth. With the hand still concealing her mouth, Bonney turned her head a bit only to find Marco slouching against her back.

"Really now, no one cares about the padding, the straps or if it's made out of nylon. You're missing the point…" Marco murmured but his eyes made a fleeting gaze across the two boys currently latching on Kidd.

"I do!" Hollered Thatch but snapped his mouth shut when he noticed the warning look on Marco. "I mean… Kidd's got a point. It's not safe to wear that in here. I guess."

As he released the pinkette's mouth, Marco sighed. "Don't you guys have better topic to quarrel on other than bra and stuff in front of the kids?"

In unison, both Kidd and Bonney made a 'whoops' sound and it was then they finally realized the boys has been listening to them intently with mouths jar apart, hopefully due to confusion or something akin to it.

"So…!" In need to cut the awkward atmosphere, Thatch decided to butt in. "This is Kidd's infamous little bro—wait, there's three kids here. I thought you only got one…"

"Hah, see. That's why kids are so scary. They multiples even before you know it." Killer snickered as popped raspberry jelly beans into his mouth.

Mouth twitching in hilarity, Bonney stole a couple of the sweet treats from the blonds' opened palm. "The one with the black hair, Thatch."

From the pinkette, the pompadour-haired man switched his gaze back to the boys. "There are two ravens clinging on him. Which one?"

At first, Thatch zeroed in his attention on Ace, but later regretted his decision when the freckled boy scowled and threw extra-sharp dagger glare at him. If Thatch was born with a weak heart, he would be a pile of human flesh blob by now.

"If you keep staring at me, I'll kick you, old man." Ace almost hissed out, catching the horror-struck look on the Thatch's face.

"That's definitely not him!" The brown haired man shrieked and leaped backward by a foot, earning himself a bark of loud laughter from his fellow mechanics.

Using Killer as a makeshift support, Bonney doubled over while holding her stomach. "He called you an old man! You've became ancient, Thatch!"

While the others still hollering in laughter, Marco stepped forwards and by any means, closer to the smallest boy of the three.

"So you're Kidd's little brother, huh?" The man murmured and kneeled down so he would be in Luffy's direct line of sight. Even so, Marco noticed the boy's pupils darted with avoidance ever so slightly, never fixing his gaze as though his reflection was spinning the child's vision. Perhaps it was Luffy's natural instinct and maybe it wasn't on purpose, but the effect from the boy's past had unconsciously force such behavior to take place. Like it was one of the many means to protect himself.

Startled with the sudden approach, Luffy pressed closed to his brother, feeling the need to hide inside Kidd's shirt if it's necessary. A tiny speck of anxiety was escalating inside the small body. Throughout his time living with Kidd, he's learned a lot of important aspects of life and among them are to trust and to accept people. But still, it wasn't all that easy to eradicate entirely the fear that was instilled inside him for years long—the fear of people, the fear of punishment, the fear of abandonment—and it was those feelings that thought him not to trust people, to keep everything to himself, in the distant, dark chamber of his heart, to keep his feelings bottled inside. Before he knew it, they had turned him into a child with avoidant personality disorder.

"Won't you tell me your name?" Smiling slightly, Marco asked further and in spite of Luffy's lack of respond, the senior worker still waited for the boy patiently. "These people behind me might be a little weird and a lot crazy, but your brother and everyone's here are pretty much like a family. If possible, we also want to know the name of our family's important little man, yeah?"

The child perked slightly at the Marco's justification and peered back at the man, finally fixating his locking eyes with him. He took in the image of Marco's smiling face and it was then the boy noticed the man before him reminded him of Shanks. The air around the blond was almost similar to Ace's dad, but at the same time, it was different. In his perception, the veterinarian is akin to the sun in the middle of summer, but this man… the warmth radiated from his is reminiscent of sunshine on a cool autumn day. Not as strong and perceptible as Shanks', but it was there—lukewarm, cool and nice all together.

After a moment or two, Luffy gave the man the long awaited answer. "… Luffy."

Relief immediately took place inside Marco. At least the child was willing to speak to him and that alone, was a good start.

"What was that? Was it Luffy… or Fluffy? Sorry I couldn't hear you well. This place is usually loud so most of us here are probably half deaf by now." Marco couldn't help but to tease the boy. Of course he knew the child's name. Everyone here does, but he just wanted to coax Luffy to talk more.

"Luffy. My name is Luffy" The boy repeated, this time much louder and he could have sworn Marco was stifling a laugh if the widening smile was any indication.

"I see, I see," At the boy confused frown, Marco chuckled but quickly covered it up by feigning a cough. "I'm Mar—"

"He's a bird man!" All of sudden, Thatch hollered from behind and Luffy looked quite baffled with the brown-haired man interruption.

At once, Marco waved his hand in front of Luffy's face to steal back the boy's attention. "Ignore him. He's just being his usual crazy self, that's why he has that weird hair style."

"But Marco~~" Bonney drawled with a slightly childish voice "You're the one who self-proclaimed yourself as a bird that night, remember? How did it go again, Thatch?"

"Oh, it went like this." With a glee, Thatch stood on a chair with one leg and started flapping his arms up and down to mimic a bird's movement. "I'm a bird! I'm a bird! Quack! Quack!"

Except for Marco, the rest of the mechanics broke into a crazy fits. Fuck, he knew he should have locked Thatch in the store room after all. That man was without doubt, a walking negative influence. And that night, in which Bonney had mentioned just now, refers to last year New Year Eve party where everyone had too much drink, including him. Well yeah, he did something quite out of character and the rest is history. A history that everyone else here kept on repeating now and then.

But damn, the combination of dark rum, white rum, spiced rum, brandy and pineapple juice was just too good…

"You guys are not going to let me off-hook on this one, are you?" Face palmed, Marco murmured in defeat.

In respond, Kidd tried to stifle the laugh but a snort came out instead. "Pfft, no way! It's a rarity just to see the embarrassing side of the cool, level-headed Marco."

Once they had calmed down by the tiniest, Killer shook his head in disagreement. "No, no, no. That ain't right, Thatch. It's a phoenix, not a bird."

"Yeah, you're right. My bad." Thatch scratched his head before the evil glee was back into action. "Alright everyone! All together now. One, two three!"

Together, they did the same motion as Thatch's—flapping their hands and made a quaking sound—and sang, "I'm a phoenix! I'm a phoenix! Quack! Quack!" and another series of gut wrenching fits followed afterwards. Even the children seemed to be able to put this and that together and Ace could no longer hide the grin, but quickly swiveled his head to the side when Marco turned to look at him.

"Anyway, just don't listen to him." Marco said as soon as he turned back to Luffy. "I'm Marco. Nice to meet you."

Luffy stared at Marco offered hand, obviously waiting for a handshake. Then even so slowly, Luffy took the man's hand and when their hands were clasped together, the child could feel the warmth transferred from Marco burned his soul in a good way that actually made him to squeeze his much smaller hand around the blonds' larger one.

"So I assume these two are his friends?" Asked Marco as he stood up, eyeing both Sabo and Ace in turns. All three of them were now latching on Kidd's pants and the blond couldn't help but to chuckle at the comical picture. Really now, who would have imagined Kidd being surrounded by small children?

"Hm-mm. They live pretty close to us." Unaware of Marco amused expression, the redhead unconsciously fingered through Ace's raven lock. Surprising enough, the freckled boy didn't as much growl as he usually did when Shanks or Doflamingo performed the same gesture.

"This is Ace and Sabo." Kidd explained further in which Ace only offered a sour look towards Marco, in contrast with Sabo who grinned and gave a peace sign instead.

Before Marco could further comment, a truck came into the garage with a towed car attached behind it.

"You guys are so loud! I can hear your voice miles away!" Screamed the driver the second he was out of the truck. Clad only in his usual open Aloha shirt and a Speedo, Franky made his way towards the group of workers, pushing his sunglasses up to his forehead as he did so. It didn't take long for him to notice the boys around Kidd's waist.

Arching an eyebrow, the blue-haired man tilted his head to the side. "We've been away for only less than an hour and you've already become a father of three?"

"Coo~hoo~Is your brain made out of rubbish?" Lucci, the one who was in the same tow truck as Franky's chided beside him. Of course, in his case, his spoke person was in fact, the pigeon perched on his shoulder by mean of ventriloquism. "That's obviously his little brother. At least one of them is."

Once again, Ace's cognac-brown eyes twinkled with disbelief as he ran them up and down the tall, blue-haired man. "He's wearing an underwear…"

"Correction," Marco said to the freckled boy. "He's wearing ONLY an underwear."

Franky puffed his chest indignantly. "It's called Speedo! There's a big difference between underwear and Speedo. Speedo is the only way for you to appear sexy without being arrested by the police for—"

At the same time as the man preaching regarding the sexy world of Speedo, Marco massaged his temple slightly. "First it's bra, now it's Speedo… What's wrong with everyone today talking about undergarment?"

And Kidd responded to Franky's speech by covering the boys' eyes. "Don't look at him. That guy is contagious and you guys might catch his disease."

"Huh? Is there something you wanted to say, Eustass Kidd?" The tone laced in Franky's voice was all challenging.

"Isn't obvious?" On the behalf of Kidd, Bonney answered the Speedo-wearing mechanic. "He's basically saying that you're a pervert."

Less than a second, a smile appeared on Franky's face at the answer given. "Really? How thoughtful of you, Kidd!"

"He wasn't complimenting you, you idiot! Coo~hoo~" The pigeon piped in while Lucci maintained his emotionless demeanor.

"Kidd…" Sabo whispered, pulling the hem of Kidd's t-shirt to pull the man attention. "The bird just spoke! This place is weird!"

Shoulders shaking as he chuckled, Kidd then grinned at the blond kid before answering, "It's called ventriloquism. The one who's speaking is actually that guy but he made it so it looks like that the voice is coming from the pigeon."

"But," This time, it was Ace's turn to inquiry. "I saw the pigeon's mouth move! And it even flapped its wings like they were its hands."

"Well, no one here really knows how he trains that bird."

As if sensing that he was the subject of their discussion, Lucci paced across the sea of mechanics and shuffled closer, his toe capped shoes still made a 'tap, tap' noise even with the loud background noise. Up close, he noticed the boys' eyes had widened by a fracture and glinted with what he could have deciphered as a crossover between nervous and excitement.

"Sorry about that. My name is Rob—" The pigeon paused. "No, no, no. My name is Hatori. And he's," He flapped his left wing to the side to point at the brunette. "Rob Lucci. That idiot just now is Franky."

An awed expression festooned the boys' face after hearing Hattori's words of introduction, more so when they could almost see the human traits the bird was exhibiting. Whilst the ventriloquist drew out the conversation by asking which of them is Kidd's brother, the group was once again graced by the presence of the true boss of the garage.

"What's going on here?" Absalom inquired, tying his hair into a ponytail as he made his way towards his workers. For the last half an hour while he was in the store room to do the monthly inventory check, he's been hearing nothing but roars of laughter and occasional shouting that reminded his so much of a bar.

"Look, look, Ero-Salom!" Bonney motioned for the man to come closer quickly gesture toward Kidd's direction. "Taadaaaa! It's Red's brother!"

Astonishment washed over him as his eyes landed on the said boy. But not for long when the owner shifted his gaze to Kidd. "Kidd…"

"What?" The said male was all defensive.

Absalom frowned in a slight disagreement. "What did I say about bringing them here?"

"You say… yes?"

"Yes I did." A soft sigh. "But I also said to tell me beforehand, remember?"

"But," The redhead tried to defend himself. "It wasn't me who—"

"Nevermind." Absalom cut the younger words, waving his hand airily to dismiss the topic. "They're here already. Just don't let them wonder around. And everyone has stopped working anyway."

From Kidd, the owner turned his attention towards his gathered workers. "Is it too late to lock Thatch in the store room?"

Knowing that the question was directed to him, Marco snickered. "You have no idea. He's caused too much damage than you can imagine."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The pompadour-haired man retorted. "And where were you anywhere? Didn't see you in the office."

"I was checking the inventory. Unlike you, I do my job diligently." As he mumbled, Absalom rubbed his shoulder and groaned.

"Something's wrong with your shoulder?" Bonney asked the man while her hand was slapped away as she tried to steal more of Killer's jellybeans.

"The store room was in chaos so I had to move things here and there including some stocks we received yesterday." Again, Absalom groaned. By any means, he wasn't out of shape, but all those bending, squatting and reaching wasn't his typical daily routine and now his underused muscles has started to protest.

"Pfft," Killer snorted. "We know that you're in your forties and therefore OLD, but I had no idea how frail you'd gotten."

Absalom gave a withering look in return. "Usually I'd smack you for that, but I'm conserving my energy right now. So I'll settle for a stern 'fuck you' instead."

Using a spanner, Lucci hit the owner's head from behind. "None of that! Coo~hoo~ we're in front of children."

"I'm not going to remind you that I'm in fact your boss," A small hiss escaped his mouth as Absalom rubbed his bruised head. "But if you're going to scold me, at least use your own mouth… And don't use the spanner to hit people, damn it!"

As insults were thrown back and forth between the mechanics, Sabo let his eyes to wonder around only to catch a glimpse of his father sitting in the car with his long legs dangling out over the garage floor. Bruised chin and red nose, he was in the middle of stuffing yet another rolled tissue up his nose and the boy couldn't help but to wonder just where did those injuries came from.

Their eyes met before Doflamingo beckoned for the boy to come closer to him. Instead of running straight towards his old man, Sabo flashed out a deep scowl. Part of him was still pissed at his father. No thanks to him, not only his tongue was aching, he had even thrown up his lunch after being carried like a doll by Killer. But nonetheless, he still went to him, fighting the urge to sulk.

"Open your mouth and say 'ah." Doflamingo commanded once Sabo was only inches away from him.

"What?" Sabo looked at the man incredulously as though his father had just expressed his wish to be a singer at a jazz club.

"No, I said 'ah'." The father repeated, patiently waiting for his son.

Still holding the skeptical look, Sabo wordlessly complied. While the boy did as he was told, Doflamingo peered thoughtfully into his son's mouth and saw a small patch of unnatural redness on Sabo's tongue. He stared at it for few seconds before nudging the child's jaw to indicate he had finished with the examination.

"It's not that bad." Doflamingo began, referring to the spot on Sabo's tongue where he had bitten before. Still, the boy couldn't help but to narrow his eyes at his father's laid back demeanor.

"Relax, don't get so mad. Let's get some ice cream after this, alright?" The man patted the Sabo's head lightly which only deepened his scowl. Even so, the boy couldn't help but to look forward for the promised treat considering he had gotten slightly hungry after throwing up his lunch.

"And I want pizza for dinner." Sabo enhanced his demand, leaning his back against the inner side of the car's door.

"I thought you hate pizza."

"Only vegetarian pizza." The boy answered back while making a slightly disgusted look to emphasize his point.

"Point taken. Whoever invented vegetarian pizza should be shot down with an elephant gun." Rubbing his slightly red tinted chin, Doflamingo said thoughtfully. "At least I don't have to worry about what to cook for tonight. You always complaint about this and that."

_That's because I don't even know what you always put inside the food._

When he knew that his son didn't bother to make a comeback for that, Doflamingo turned his gaze back to the group of mechanics.

"Well," The blond said in a voice loud enough to pierce the commotion among the mechanics and clapped his hand. "Not that I don't appreciate drama in a workplace… but I think it's time to talk business, yes?"

Dead silence enveloped throughout the garage when everyone ceased talking all at once. In all honesty, they didn't notice (except for Killer and Kidd) the man's presence in the room… until now. The eerie graveyard atmosphere prolonged for few seconds before Kidd decided to break the stillness in the air.

"What do you mean by 'business?" Kidd questioned as Ace quickly hid behind the redhead, away from Doflamingo's range of sight like the man was his enemy at the moment.

"Why Eustass~" He drawled over Kidd's name, letting his arms to rest on his knees with fingers laced together. "You wouldn't think that I came here just to drop the boys, would you?"

"You… weren't?"

Doflamingo snorted. "Hands to god, I didn't even know you work here. So now do the math."

Before Kidd could fall into calculative thinking mode, Absalom shuffled closer to the younger. "I didn't know you're associated with a mafia, Kidd."

Hah! See! Even his boss thinks so too…

"I'm not. That's because he's not a crook… I think." Because the words 'eccentric' and 'mafia' just doesn't blend well together, yeah?

"Anyway," The redhead waved his hand to dismiss his inner monolog. "Not only he's actually Sabo's dad, I think he's here for his car… Um, I hope."

"HE'S A PAPA?!" The sunglasses on Franky's head almost fall off when the he shrieked, in a manly way of course.

Even Marco, who's infamous for his poker-face, had his jaw slightly dropped down as his eyes made a fleeting move. Sabo. Doflamingo. Sabo. Doflamingo. Sabo. Doflamingo. Sabo—Shit, now he's starting to get dizzy.

"Wow, that's quite a shock…" At last, Marco spoke on the behalf of everyone's in the garage. "I have to be honest. He certainly doesn't look like your everyday father. He looks more like a …" The senior mechanic paused as he seek appropriate words that wouldn't land him on Doflamingo's shit list, but his attempt was destroyed when Thatch and Killer decided to cut in.

"A mafia king with a criminal past."

"A mafia king with a criminal past."

Both Thatch and Killer looked at each other, only to realize that they have uttered the same exact words simultaneously.

Thatch grinned. "Just for once in many years, you've finally spoken my language. High-five me kid."

And so high-fiving is what they did.

_This is really going nowhere,_ Absalom sighed and focus his mind back at the mafia look-alike. "So you're the kid's dad… And you're here for your car…?"

"Oh no. I'm here to buy this place so I can turn it into a human auction house." Doflamingo said swiftly with serious a serious look and voice that causes chill to run up and down everyone's spine. Few seconds slipped away and the tension was getting heavier and thicker with every passing second. Too thick you could even use a knife to slice it like a cheese, well, metaphorically speaking.

… That is, before the mafia look-alike broke into a roar of laughter.

"Of course I'm here for the car!" Doflamingo was still cackling but somehow managed to gather enough vocabularies to speak. "Damn, you people crack me up!"

Between the cackling and yet another cackling, the man dimly heard the multiple relieve gasps exhaled by the workers and a deep sigh from the garage's owner.

"Why is it so hard for me to get a normal lineup just for once? We have a glutton, a thug, a snack-eating monster, a bird man, perverts, a ventriloquist and now what? A mafia look-alike? What else?"

Perched on the table with his left leg crossed over the right one, Thatch didn't bother to guess in which of the category he was lumped into. "Hmm… Nah, the lineup is still not complete. We're missing gay people here."

"Uh," Kidd started, torn in between informing them regarding Doflamingo's preference or shoving one of Killer's enormous 4-inch jawbreaker candy ball down Thatch's throat to shut him up.

Fortunately (or unfortunately?), Doflamingo beat him to it. "You're looking at him." Raising his hand, the man answered nonchalantly as though he had just informed them that he had eggs and bacon for breakfast.

"You play for the other team?" Thatch asked carefully after a long stretch of silence.

"With an inclusive loyalty." Another smirk was drawn from the blond. A long 'oooo' sound reverberated among the workers which only indicated total understanding.

Aaaa… A free nation indeed.

In need to entertain himself, Sabo nudged his father's legs to the side. A non-verbal way to tell the man that he wanted to get inside the car in which Doflamingo understood almost immediately as he shifted his legs just enough for his son to squeeze in. It appeared that they weren't going to leave the garage anytime soon and the boy couldn't get any hungrier. Heh, good thing he still have some snacks left inside his bag pack which would be a packet of cheese puff.

Doflamingo heard the crinkling sound and turned his head around, spotting the packaged snack in Sabo's hand. "Sabo, what did I say about food inside the car?" There was a mild warning inside the man's tone that made the boy twitched.

"Err… not to eat them inside?" Sabo answered carefully and bit his lower lips.

"Exactly."

Just like his snack's name, Sabo puffed his cheeks slightly. It's not like he was going to eat it inside the car anyway because he was well aware of his father's ground rule about foods and drinks inside the car. It's alright to bring them inside, but to eat and drink was another story. Still, wordlessly, the boy crawled out from the car and jogged his way towards Ace and Luffy, a packet of cheese puff in his hand.

As the mechanics watched Sabo tore open the packet to share his snack with the other boys, some of them just couldn't let the issue to pass by just like that. One of them unfortunately, was Franky.

Damn, just why-oh-why does God create human to be such curious creature?

"I still don't get it," Franky fiddled with his sunglasses. "If you're gay to the boot, how did that kid come into the picture?"

"It's quite a funny story actually," The mafia look-alike began with a beam. Really, how could someone grins so much without having a muscle cramp? "I mean one day I went to the hospital to visit a colleague of mine but somehow I got lost and went to the maternity ward instead. Before I left the floor, I passed by a baby nursery and it was then I saw almost a dozen babies and I thought, 'how cute! They are all rosy pink and tiny like hamsters. Maybe I should get one myself'. So what happened next is—"

"Dad paid some lady to be the surrogate mom to get pregnant and give birth to me. Aah, but he didn't sleep with her though." Casually, Sabo carried on his father's long-ass story, mouth still busy munching on the chess puffs.

If possible, the boy's answer only made the workers' eyes to widen to a size of a dinner plate. Everything about that sentence is so bloody wrong, especially the later one and aside from the mechanics' traumatized look, Killer was seen popping half a dozen jelly beans into his mouth that only caused him to cough and choke afterwards. From Kidd's point of view, it was very unkind for the father and son to gang up and provide such explanation that could only cause a series of heart attack among the workers.

Upon seeing the adults' chain of reaction, Sabo paused his chewing, the puff was half-way into his mouth. "W-what's wrong?"

"Did," Kidd cleared his throat, his mind searching for specks of vocabularies enough for him to form coherent sentence. But damn, why does it feel like there's a fucking peanut butter in his mouth? "Did he tell you that?" At last, the words were out and the redhead felt something unfurled inside his chest. Not quite.

Sabo nodded, not catching the reason behind those mortified looks between the mechanics. Of-fucking-course.

"Oi, papa-san!" Franky finally snapped from the shock-reverie. "Haven't you heard the phrase 'too much information'?!"

"What's the point?" Behind the heavily tinted shades, Doflamingo took a quick look on his son before settling the baby-blue orbs back on Franky. "He'll have to learn about it sooner or later."

"Alright, enough!" Absalom quickly interjected and felt something throbbing in his head at the increasingly odd dynamics of the conversation. If this continues, he most likely would hear the word 'penis' after this. "Just—just stop." Few deep breaths and once again, Absalom was in professional mode. Well, almost. "So the car… What about it?"

"I need you to make some modifications. Well… to add more power obviously."

"Huh?!" Kidd couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That car probably can whimper through the quarter-mile in 13.8 seconds at 101.8 mph, and you still want to add more power? Unless you want to turn it into a race car—"

A conspiratorial smirk split Doflamingo's face.

At a loss, the redhead swiftly waved his hand. "… You know what? Don't answer that."

Wordlessly, Absalom opened the car's hood and took a quick scan on the engine parts. "Hmm… Marco, Franky, Kidd… Come here for a sec…"

In the middle of munching on the cheese puff (courtesy from Sabo), Kidd gave a startled look. "What? Me?"

"Yes, you. Just come here before I drag your ass myself, brat." Commanded the garage's owner. In any way, the redhead is his youngest worker, but in spite of the age and bratty attitude, Kidd without doubt, has the knack when it comes to engine modification. "… And the rest of you, just do whatever."

"Alright! How about I show you boys around the shop?" Thatch cheered and clapped his hands, catching the excited glint in the children's eye.

"Thatch…." Disapproval was heavy in the owner's voice.

"Relax… I'll make sure they won't get stuck under the cars… or any of the tools…or blow up anything." There was a slight hesitation in those sentences that bothered Absalom even more.

"I'm not worried about the kids. I'm worried because '**it's Thatch**'. You're the one who always got stuck and blow up things."

To retaliate, the pompadour-haired man shot up indignantly. "What?! Why is it always about me?" Honestly, this people! Just because he almost chopped his arm off once, blew up a gasket, destroyed the coffee machine and got punched by Bonney, that doesn't mean everything relates to him would ended up in total pandemonium. Really now…

"Because the word '**Thatch**' is the epitome of chaos." Kidd's words of choice were straight away supported by multiple nods from his fellow mechanics while the mentioned man could only grumble childishly.

Despite the fact that the brown-haired man was INDEED equal to mayhem, Absalom somewhat couldn't bring himself to forbid the children from exploring the place. After all, he did say 'yes' to Kidd.

"Killer, go with Thatch and look after the kids." Well, Killer wasn't any less childish that Thatch, but at least he has enough sense not to cause a commotion… Except for the cranberry juice incident in the office.

At hearing the command of his chief, the blond popped the last portion of his jelly beans into his mouth. "No problem. But Luffy's with me." Faster than a lightning, Killer snatched the child's hand and pulled him closer. The good news is, Luffy didn't as much recoil at the close proximity between him and Killer, taking into account that he has long been familiar with the blonds' presence. The bad news was the dismayed hiss of Thatch's.

"That's not fair! You're leaving me to get stuck… with him." Through the corner of his eyes, the browned haired man caught a glimpse of Ace narrowing his eyes into a single slit, almost like a lion ready to pounce on its prey.

In this case, Thatch probably was the poor antelope.

"Did you see that?!" If possible, the older mechanic almost shrieked like those actors in the third rate horror movie. "He's ready to maul me! We've just met for less than an hour and he's already putting me in his shit list."

"Still, Luffy's staying with me." Killer kept the boy close to his side as though Thatch might steal him away. "And don't worry. He probably just doesn't like you. I mean, you're pretty much in everyone's shit list, right?"

The rest of the man's snappish reply was left unheard as Killer casually walked away with Luffy in his hand. "First, let's check out the cars we're currently working on. And then we'll go to the waiting room and have some snacks while we wait for Kidd to finish up his discussion. Sounds okay?"

"Yeah." Luffy replied to the blond, curling his fingers tight around Killer's larger hand. It couldn't be helped that his child-like instinct to kick in when being inside unfamiliar place surrounded by cool-looking cars and odd looking tools.

And a talking pigeon. No one can argue with that.

A simple wave from the garage chief signaled the rest of the mechanics' dismissal and Absalom was joined by the three mentioned people. For the next ten minutes, their discussion consisted of some poking and prodding the engine parts and occasional argument among them. Every now and then, amber orbs would take a quick peek on the children and his eyes currently landed on the two boys. It amused him, those two of course, along with what could be described as their bodyguard. Despite knowing that he probably wasn't in Ace's favorite list, Thatch was still being his usual chatty-self, merrily explaining about mechanic-related stuffs to the boys. In any case, he has to give a salute to that pompadour-haired man. No matter what the condition or lion den he was thrown into, Thatch never loses his cheer, not in this lifetime.

Not surprisingly, the brown haired man would flinch and leaped back like an antelope every time Ace offered him a death glare, causing the man to collide with anything that was near him including the ever-stoic Lucci. Though… a small voice at the back of his mind was commenting that the freckled boy only did it just to see Thatch's chain of reaction and Kidd's logic was verified with the barely-there smirk on Ace's boyish face and a grin on Sabo's. All in one, those two really know how to terrorize people without so much effort.

Next, Kidd let his gaze to linger on Luffy who was in the middle of patting Lucci's pet, Hattori. Pieces of crushed cracker were placed on his opened palm for the pigeon to snack on and once in a while, the child would let out a small squeak when Hattori pecked his hand a little too hard. Even so, a rare animated glint was apparent in his brother's eyes, especially when the pigeon fluttered his wings and touched Luffy's cheek as if to say 'you're going to be alright' in a birdie way. The redhead wasn't sure if that was the bird's own will or he was simply conveying Lucci's feeling, but Kidd guessed it was most probably the later after seeing the brunette patting Luffy's head softly. It was rather surprising though given that Lucci isn't one to express emotions much.

"It wasn't bad like what I'd expected." Marco suddenly boomed next to him, startling the young redhead.

"What is?" Kidd straightened his back as he asked. Currently, Franky and his boss was in mid-discussion but his ears still catching their points, feeling there's no need for him to intervene at the moment.

Marco gestured towards Luffy's direction. "Luffy. I'm little bit surprised though. Back there, I thought he was going to have a panic attack considering his psychological condition."

"So you know about that too, huh…?

"I asked Bonney about him. Sorry… couldn't help myself." There was a hint of guilt in Marco's voice that made the younger chuckled.

"Nah, that's okay." With his goggles dangled around his neck, the red strands now free to fall forward and poke into his eyes, much to Kidd's irritation. "It was hard, I have to admit. During the first couple of months, he was even worse than that expressionless Lucci. Like, there's nothing inside him. Like he was… hollow. There were few times that I was in the verge of giving up."

"But you didn't." The man corrected. "And because of that, Luffy's doing better, right?"

Kidd slicked his hair back with his fingers, away from his eyes. "He is. I mean, he's not bouncy and hyper-energetic like Sabo and Ace, but still, he's doing better."

"So why the long face?" Much to his expectation, Marco wasn't all surprise the see anxious look on Kidd.

"What?"

With a small shrug, the older fixed his eyes on Kidd, fingers unconsciously toying with his golden-yellow necklace. "You said he's doing better, but you still have that worried look on your face."

"Nobody can hide anything from you, eh?" Kidd smiled bitterly.

"Nope. I'm just that good." The senior mechanic shook his head. "So spit it out or do I need to add 'or else' in my next sentence?"

A small smile along with a sigh escaped the younger's mouth. "I don't know…" Kidd began. "Right now I'm trying my best to give everything to Luffy. But sometimes… I just feel that it's not enough."

A simple rose of an eyebrow, a non-verbal way of Marco to express his need for further explanation. Kidd recognized the body-language and continued. "My mother didn't contribute much, but at least I still had a father. A good one and in any case, I'm familiar with parental love because of him. Plus, I didn't get trashed in the head. But Luffy…" Another deep sigh. "He didn't get to experience that privilege. Not in the past, not now, not ever."

Knowing that Kidd had yet to finish his part, the veteran waited patiently. While he did so, he observed the subject of their conversation, now joined with the other two boys at the waiting room. From that distance, Marco couldn't tell what was going on over there, but his rough guess was that they were having some sort of snacks since Killer was with them. And also, that room, was in fact, the place where the younger blond usually stacked his all-year snack supplies.

After a while, Marco turned back to Kidd.

"What I'm trying to say is," Kidd finally continued after a long hiatus. "I'm not his parents, Marco… I can't provide him any fatherly feeling, let alone motherly feeling."

At Kidd's explanation, Marco laughed lightly as he rubbed his stubbled chin. For a young person, Kidd sure thinks too much.

"Of course you can't give him that. You're not his dad, everyone knows that." Still keeping his eyes on Kidd, the veteran leaned back down and rest majority of his weight against the car's bumper.

"Because you're his brother… And he still has a family. Not a perfect one, but that imperfect person is the one who treasures him more than anyone else." A short pause. "I don't know what other people think, but to me, that's more than enough. I'm sure Luffy feels the same."

Something inside him was unfurled, Kidd wasn't certain what it was, but it was enough to make his smile in relief. Parents or no parents, Luffy just needed to know that him being born to this world alone was a gift and therefore his existence is cherished as much as anyone else out there.

"Yeah, I guess… I mean, you're right. Wow, aren't you one wise old man?"

Instantly, Marco's mouth fell into a straight line. "Watch it, brat."

"Oi, you two." Both Marco and Kidd turned to the garage chief. "We've come up a basic to-do-list. Come here and take a look."

Just like that, they brought to an end to their conversation and focused back on their main assignment.

All the while Doflamingo only sat the car, not wanting to interrupt their discussion as he felt it was best to leave the decision to the expert. He knew the discussion had come to an end when Absalom approached him.

"Well, there's nothing that we can't do." Absalom began as he leaned against the car, watching the mafia-alike took his shades off. "We're going to do some test drive first, to see the max performance. We've pretty much had ideas what to modify, what to install though…"

Marco continued. "So basically we're going to revise the intake and exhaust. We can install only one of these two and it would still increase the power, but if we install both, the increased horsepower and torque would be more than those produced by the modified intake alone…"

"I'm sensing another 'but' in there." Doflamingo commented based on his raw instinct.

"There is another 'but'." Verified the veteran mechanic. "If we install both, the factory ECU won't be able to cope with the extra power. Unless…" Marco looked over to Franky.

"We do ECU modification to get those two babies to work together in perfect harmony." The blue-haired man explained, earning an odd look from Kidd. Honestly, who would say 'perfect harmony' in car business? "Tweak the engine program a bit, revise the engine software and throw in some custom engine tune… and other smattering stuffs. You do all that, you'll definitely get SUPER speed and performance and the engine itself sound nastier than Sasquatch's wife."

All three other mechanics turned to Franky and gave the Speedo-wearer a funny look. "Sasquatch?" Marco muttered incredulously.

"Yeah, Sasquatch. Got problem with that?"

"That shit is a myth. Don't tell me you believe that 'thing' exists." Kidd contoured.

"Of course they do. How do you know they don't even exist?"

"Well, how do you know they exist? Have you seen one or caught one?"

"And why's wife? Why choose the wifey instead?" This time, it was Absalom's turn to inquiry Franky's logic.

"They exist because I said so." Franky directed his answer to Kidd before turning to his chief afterward. "And I chose the wife because women are a scary and mysterious creature. Just take your girlfriend for example. You always hide under your desk everytime she comes around. What's her name again? Was it Lola or something?"

Like someone who's seen a headless zombie, Absalom shrieked with all his might. "Don't even mention that name! And for the last time, she is NOT my girlfriend."

"That's harsh, Ero-Salom." Kidd shook his head in sympathized. "How could she not be your girlfriend when she comes here in that bridal outfit?"

"I'm telling you she's not!"

"They're like children, aren't they?" Marco muttered next to Doflamingo as they both watched the three-way squabble.

"Definitely worse than my kid." Replied the man while he watched Absalom now stomping his foot repeatedly like a petulant child denying his mistake. "Alright! Alright! Enough children! If you keep bickering, you all are going to get a good spank in the ass."

That was more than enough to break the fight and seal their mouths shut almost immediately. When Doflamingo figured that was safe to talk, it was then the man finally spoke. "So basically, I get two choices here. Choice number one…" He held up one finger. "Only install the intake and increase the power. Choice number two…" Another finger was up. "Install both intake and exhaust, reprogram the engine and increase more MORE power."

"Of course, the number two choice will be more costly. So yeah, that basically sums up everything." Kidd reminded the man, still glaring both Franky and Absalom.

With a small shrug, Doflamingo grinned. "Then, number two it is." After all, money is not a problem for him.

"One more thing." Kidd held up his hand to signal that their discussion hasn't finished. "We're going to change the tires too, considering what you're going to do with your car…" The redhead narrowed his eyes a bit, but those orbs were overflowing with warning that clearly speaks 'I-am-never-going-to let-Luffy-ride-inside-that-monster-again'. "…it's only reasonable to install those to increase the skidpad grip. So your car wouldn't fly and hit someone's grandma."

Finally, Absalom concluded. "Alright, that's pretty much everything. I need to order the stocks first before I can give you the cost estimation and everything."

"Sounds good to me." Agreed the customer before he gave a small yawn and stretched out his long legs. All these sitting and getting hit by Ace really did some kink to his body.

"You can leave your car now or you can come back later when the stocks arrive."

"Nah…" Doflamingo's voice was muffled slightly when he dove further into the car just to retrieve all the children's bagpacks. "It's too troublesome to come back later. I'll just leave it here."

As if on cue, the boys have finally finished with their tour and on their ways to the gathered mechanic, each with watermelon hard candy sticks in their hands (and mouth). This made Absalom to frown a bit. That Killer has no problem sharing his precious snacks with the children and yet, that blond brat is a total cheapskate towards all the workers. Not that he wanted any of his candy, but still, it annoys him.

"Hold on," Something stirred inside Kidd and the redhead just had to confirm what the ugly feeling was. "Are you going… to walk from here?"

"Hnn…? That's given right?" Unaware with the dumbstruck look on Kidd's face, the man murmured out his answer. His eyes made a quick scan all over the car's interior, to search for anything that's need to be taken out seeing that he'll be leaving his car in this garage for god-knows how long. In the end, aside from Sabo's handheld console game and his spare sunglasses, there was nothing else that holds an important value.

"You're wearing a three-piece suit…" _Along with that shaddy sunglasses and that creepy smiles of yours.__This is a disaster. I'll be waking side by side with a mafia king with a criminal past. _"… and you want to walk your way home…?"

_And with me?!_ That thought itself was enough to make Kidd sick in the stomach. Last time Doflamingo visited his house, it wasn't more than ten minutes and yet, the effect was capable to make his skin prickled. He knew he wasn't the only one who felt the tremor as the redhead saw Ace winced and took a larger than usual bite of his candy stick. That alone was a solid evidence of the boy's dismay bearing in mind that the hard, candy stick was meant to be suckled on, not to be bitten when you're put under stress.

Clad in his usual creepy yet jolly demeanors, Doflamingo brushed away the invisible dirt on his suit, smoothed out any apparent wrinkles and straightened his pose before giving a grin so large the corner of it disappeared beneath his shades.

"Walking is good for your heart."

_That's only for your heart, dumbass. My heart is about to burst into pieces right now._

Both Kidd and Ace didn't bother to conceal their dismayed expression as Ace quickly stuffed his head into his watermelon bag and screeched obscenity. While Kidd, on the other hand, made a mental note to take a dose or three of Pepto Bismol. As a defense against the stress ulcers he could feel forming and also to calm his upset stomach.

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

**-End-**

* * *

**OMAKE: OF ICE CREAM, COOKIES AND SPEEDO**

Inside the exam room, Shanks felt a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth as he sipped on his black tea, relishing the bold and brisk flavor—the winey, fruity and piney taste with a hint of tobacco-like. Oh yes, he was in his most unstressed mood indeed. The weather was to his liking—cloudy and windy—he had finished examining his last patient, the laundries had all been done and folded neatly and he had even prepared the ingredients for tonight's dinner. Perhaps, if everything goes well, he could even help Ace with his homework. Oh yes, indeed.

That is, until the appearance of his cub.

"SHANKS!" Without warning, the door burst opened with a loud slam, causing the veterinarian to spray his tea across the room. The impact of the force was too great, the red-haired man could see the door hinge was beyond saving.

There, just by the door frame, was Ace who's seen puffing like a steam locomotive from the eightieth century. Fire was practically blazing in those cognac-brown eyes and Shanks couldn't help but to rear backward in fear. The previous tranquility has been replaced with panic in a mere second.

"Wait, Ace!" Shanks held out his hand in a surrendering gesture. This is bad, no, scratch that. This is pandemonium! Not only his eyes, but the whole Ace is blazing in fire. "Whatever you think, I swear I haven't touched any of your cookies! Well, I did get my hands inside the cookie jar… but Cindry stopped me! Really, I'm telling you the truth!"

The single father tried to make his mouth to form words that could convince his son, but all that came out was incoherent babbles instead. Before Shanks could master enough terminology to speak further, Ace had already made his move—running at full speed towards him—and all Shanks could do was to wait for the worst to make an appearance.

But it never came. Instead of a hit or a kick like what Shanks had expected, a hug took place. Not just any regular hug, but a bone crushing one. The one that actually made the veterinarian to hit his back against the cabinet and wheezed ever so slightly.

"A-Ace..?" Brows scrunched together, Shanks looked down at the boy whose arms tight around the his mid-section. It was hard to distinguish Ace's expression since he was burying his face into clothed stomach, his breathes was slightly labored.

"What's wrong, Ace?" His usual laid-back tone was no longer there as Shanks tried to coax any type of respond from the freckled boy. His right hand went to stroke the small back while his other hand fingered through the raven's lock, occasionally scrapping Ace's scalp to calm him down.

This time around, a different type of panic washed over the man at his son's odd behavior. Yes, odd. Because Ace doesn't do hug, at least, not in this couple of years. So whatever just happened must be a great deal to him. _Did he get bully in school?_ No way in hell. _Did he get dumped by a girl?_ Nope. _Did he get molested?_ Not a chance. His death-glare technique was enough to turn some scoundrel into a mutilated flesh. _Did he… Stop it, Shanks!_

Just when Shanks was about to open his mouth again, Ace finally answered, or in his case, screamed with his face still pressed tightly against his father's stomach.

"I like you better than ice cream, cookies and Speedo!"

His voice was muffled by Shanks' lab coat, but the red-haired veterinarian still could catch every single syllables uttered by his son. Nothing happened for the next two minutes, apart from Ace sniffling against his mid-section and him making stunned expression as though a bomb just exploded next to his head. They just stood there, unmoving while his mind tried to make a frantic calculation regarding that outburst, but no matter how hard he struggled, Shanks still couldn't find the sense behind those words. Above all, it actually scared him.

Shanks stared at the ruined door for a long time before shifting his gaze at the ceiling, then back to his cub. Along the way, the man tried to speak, but ended up sounding like a cat choking on a furball. With enough self-calming mantra and a thousand sheep counting activity, the doctor finally able to choke out his one and only word.

"Speedo?"

**-End of Omake-**

**A/N: This is one hell of a long chapter! One, because there are many characters in this one and I want everyone to have equal involvement and two, I'm a detail person, yikes! And three, I just love Doflamingo! Well, he's pretty much an asshole in the manga, but I still love him. Hmm… imagine that.**

**PS: I'm not that familiar with car parts. Well, I own a car, but my dad and bro takes care of its well-being. Anyway, deepest apology if there's any mistake about the car parts thingy. .**


	12. My Love Left on Saturday Morning

**Chapter 12: My Love Left on Saturday Morning**

**A/N: This chapter is a pure crack. Don't say I didn't warn you!**

* * *

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Trafalgar Law could almost see the headlines for tomorrow's newspaper: _Gorgeous single male found dead in his own apartment; housemate proclaims it was boredom that kills the poor victim._

Sprawled on the carpeted floor and half naked, Law was seen lying on his stomach with his face planted into the carpet. The monotonous Saturday morning was starting to numb his brain, causing an enormous emotional drainage. An hour has passed since he laid there and stared into the darkness of the carpet fiber, unmoved while trying to plot something that would replace the hideous boredom. No such luck. Or maybe he should modify his fated path. Change his everyday's pattern. Do the unexpected like walking stark naked along the street while holding a big fluffy teddy bear.

Or maybe not.

"What the hell are you doing, Law?"

Upon hearing his name, Law craned his neck and looked up only to take in the image of an expressionless Penguin munching on a piece of toast topped with a peanut butter and blueberry jam. As he stared down at the tanned male whose seen spread out on the floor of living room in such ridiculous pose, Penguin used his free fingers to tease his side bangs—a particular habit he developed ever since he had started to quit his smoking.

The tanned male let his face to fall back into the floor and mumbled, "I'm bored. Entertain me, Peggy."

Shoving the remaining of the toast into his mouth, Penguin rolled his eyes at his friend's antics while bluntly ignored the silly nickname. His name alone was ridiculous enough and getting it shortcut didn't make his life any better at all. Even worse, it sounded more like a chick's name.

"Just get back to sleep or watch cartoon or something." The slightly shorter male patted his hands together to remove any bread crumbs and strolled to the kitchen. Not in the mood to get caffeinated, Penguin poured himself half a glass of multigrain soy milk, gulped it down in one go and went to the sink to wash the used glass along with other dirty dishes.

While the clattering noise began to get distinguished, Law turned his head slightly to have a view on the kitchen together with his dish-washing housemate. "Where's Shachi?"

"No idea. He said something about staying in someone's house last night, but the music was too loud I couldn't hear him. My best guess is that he's having a total hangover right about now…" Penguin answered his housemate as he shook his hands to get rid of the excess water. Without sparking a glance on Law who's muttering venomously under his breath, he entered his bedroom only long enough to grab a stone, funnel neck parka hung at the back of the door.

"Where are you going?" Alarmed, Law eyed his friend closely as Penguin slid on his jacket and pulled the zip all the way up until it covered his mouth.

Fingers busy tying his shoelace, the male responded, "Work. The clinic is open on Saturday too, remember?" His voice was slightly muffled due to the parka but clear enough for Law to catch every syllable. Being a male nurse in a small clinic means that he has less privilege to slouch on the sofa and eating popcorns on weekend when the said clinic is on business from Monday until Saturday.

Law pouted. By now he had finally opted to sit on his ass and leaned his back against the coffee table, fingers busy tugging on the loose thread of the carpet. "Cruel! You guys really are cruel mates, both of you!" The tattooed male screamed dramatically and hit the floor repeatedly with his palm to protest.

Unperturbed with the childish behavior, Penguin stood up, adjusted the cuffs of his long sleeves and offered another one of his infamous pokerfaced look. Based on his point of view, Law was no different with a ten year old kid especially when the said male was now stomping his foot against the floor and shouted obscenities.

"Try not to do anything stupid." After popping a sugarless gum into his mouth—to reduce the occasional nicotine cravings—the male nurse closed the door behind him.

For the next minute or two, Law stared at the closed door in utter disdain. The last thing he wanted to do was spend another weekend alone in his apartment. Now that the house had been tidied up left to right, top to bottom by Penguin, there was nothing else to fill his agonizing dull hours. Living with a well-organized housemate with a hint of OCD like Penguin really has its downfall. Maybe he should trash the whole place up and clean it up all over again so he could forget how fucking bored he could get.

… And later received a possible instant-death right hook from his dear Peggy? No sir. Not gonna happen.

Perhaps he should just go out into the outside world and discover some inspirational sights. If there's such luck, it's even possible to witness a pig flying in the sky today. That would do just nice indeed. With such baseless determination embedded into the far back of his mind, Law finally stood up and put his black, craw neck jumper on to match it with his pale blue jeans.

Wallet. Check. Cellphone. Check. Keys. Check. Nice sassy ass. Ohoo… Double check.

At nine thirty in the morning, Trafalgar Law left the apartment while humming an opening song from a certain Saturday morning cartoon show.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXx**

Forty minutes later, Law was already browsing through the shops of downtown at a laidback pace, half lidded grey eyes scanning over the window displays. It certainly didn't take long for the tanned male to have his eyes glued on the newly opened bookstore, sandwiched in between the antique and the clock store. Books certainly weren't in his checklist today, not that he had any, but checking out a new shop could be worth a while. There's always something exciting about walking into a new shop or any shop at all—the welcoming atmosphere, the new awkward sales assistants and the pleasant newness at everything.

Acting on impulse, Law approached the door of the shop and pushed open. The bell attached on the wall above the door signaled his arrival to any workers in the vicinity with a distinctive chiming sound. It was exactly the sort of atmosphere Law would have expected on Saturday morning—almost vacant with only few people here and there. For a start, he loitered around the stationary isles, twirled the new shiny pencil in between his tattooed fingers, took a quick whiff of the strawberry glitter gel pen and ogled the bear shaped eraser. Though half tempted to purchase it, Law forced himself to stride past and further into the shop where the books are stacked.

He had no real objective here. Rather than to look a specific book, Law was just going to browse around and hopefully he would stumble on something and—and—Holly fuck.

Faster than any possible moment, Law felt his eyes snapped open into an impossible fraction and his heart stopped beating for a solid three second at the picture bestowed before him. There, stood by the psychology section was the most alluring creature—masculine man— he had ever witnessed in his life. Not masculine in a leather daddy bear way or a brawn for brain way. Just a standard, classically male. Tall, broad shoulders and beneath that zipped up military style jacket, Law just knew the man was hiding slabs of muscles that forms his perfect pectoral, to the bricklayer abs to the… fuck. That ass. That—alright, forget about the ass. Even his pale skin along with his fiery, crimson hair were more than enough to make him stood out among anything else.

Fate and Luck aren't such retarded sisters after all. This… This dazzling, perfect specimen had caused an adrenaline rush to blow Law's mind and he fought the urge to punch God for creating something as sublime as this.

Detached from his surrounding, the overly gorgeous creature wasn't aware of Law's open stare and continued scanning over the page of the book he was holding. Whatever the book was, it must have been good enough for the redhead not to notice someone was practically gawking at him with a stupefied expression and since he was in the psychology section, the ebony haired man dimly wondered if his dream man is a psychiatrist or someone related to that department. Law doubted it. Rather than a psychiatrist, he looked more like a Greek God sculpture came to life.

A naked sculpture… Mmm—Stop it Law!

In need to calm himself, Law knocked the side of his head against the shelf. By the time he had finally regained his un-crazy self and opened his eyes, Mr. Hot and Sexy was looking at him, eyebrows scrunched together to indicate how puzzled he was at the moment, probably wondering why there was someone knocking their head against the book shelf like a deranged animal in the middle of the bookstore. To be honest, Law wasn't prepared for those eye—those amber eyes that were holding him in place. It's not a normal basis to see someone with such eye color, in fact; only ten percent of the world population possesses that specific yellowish eye color. That only occurs due to the deposition of the yellow pigment called lipochrome in the iris.

Still, that one look was all it took for Law's heart to almost catapult itself out from his throat, run to the dazzling creature and say 'hi sexy.'

_Dear Lord, how could you be so wicked and kind at the same time?_

Then Mr. Hot and Sexy turned back disinterestedly and focused back on his reading. The ebony haired man felt another set of adrenaline rush coursing through every of his blood vessels in his body. He needed, no; he must talk to this creature and hopefully, it would lead to somewhere.

Taking a deep breath in, Law felt his legs quaked under him as he worked his way towards the redhead. The second he reached his target, Law wasted no time sidled next to him.

"You don't look like someone who reads medical related books," Law started, letting his eyes roamed up and down the beautiful body. "Unless if you're a doctor or a psychiatrist.

_Because if you're one, I'll be your regular, loyal patient for the rest of my life._

"I didn't know this section is limited only to _doctor and psychiatrist_." Mr. Hot and Sexy replied and turned to him with a slightly raised eyebrow. Up close, Law could almost swear those eyes have shifted to an orange in color with specks of goldish-gray.

_Oh God, please strengthen your humble follower's heart because if you don't, my heart is going to burst into smattering just by hearing his voice_. The deep oh-so-manly voice that made Law's skin tingled and his mouth watered.

"It's not. I just found it rather intriguing since not many people that interested in this particular department especially if that person has no medical background." Law grinned and shifted too close for the man's comfort. He could easily tell when the redhead recoiled by few inches.

"Well, too bad I'm not _'many people'_." It was Mr. Hot and Sexy turn to check him out this time and Law shivered under the intense gaze.

Today he only wore his casual clothes since the tanned male wasn't really planning to go somewhere specific, his short raven hair was in a messy state, emphasizing his laidback nature and hopefully that would serve as an extra point. And even though Law was a six feet tall person, he still stood a couple of inches shorter than the pale man examining him. While the light, intense eyes before him was scorching hot, Law knew his own smoky grays—soft looking, muted with additional sexy connotation—were the kind people would fall into.

Well, too bad Mr. Hot and Sexy truly is not '_many people'_ because few seconds after the quick examination, he shifted his focus back to his book. In other words, Law was practically ignored.

_Wha—wha—what?!_ Law felt himself stuttered inside. _That's it? No comeback? No 'let's do coffee after this'?_

No, he wouldn't accept for their conversation to end just like that. He refused to give up and he certainly didn't want anyone to have this guy.

_Hmm… Where did that come from?_

"Do you come here often?" Not one to be deterred, Law continued despite the fact this was probably a one-sided conversation, the tattooed male still wanted to hear more of the deep, rumbling voice.

"No." Half ignoring, half listening, Mr. Hot and Sexy still made an effort to respond to the chatty male next to him. "This is my first time coming here."

"Oh really?" Law fingered the hem of his jumper and gave a goofy smile, knowing he wasn't totally disregarded after all. "Me too. That's make us comrades, yes? As a matter of fact, since we're acquainted, how about we drop by the café after this and have some coffee and maybe—"

Without warning, the pale man snapped his head sideway, by any means, towards his direction. Amused amber met startled gray. "Are you hitting on me?"

"Erm," His intention was caught red-handedly; no doubt about it, but even so, Law couldn't help himself from enjoying the sinful voice. "Is it working…?"

"Hardly." The redhead scoffed, but still maintaining an amused façade with a touch of annoyance. "Not with that crappy pick up lines."

"Sooo… You don't swing that way then?" Slightly dejected, Law muttered. What was he thinking? There was no way God, Fate and Luck would drop into his laps just like that in one single day. Those God and Goddess have better things to do, people to terrorize, rather than spending time rolling towards him in bikini and tutu.

"I never said that."

At once, his mood went sky high with hope tagging along. The grin was back and if possible, even wider than ever. Everything about Mr. Hot and Sexy set Law's heart ablaze, enough to make him felt higher than the moon and left him in daze. "So you have interest in men as well?"

"I never said that either."

Straight away, confusion washed over the tanned male. "So what exactly—"

"I just don't like you." Mr. Hot and Sexy cut the rest of Law's sentence off as he closed the book in his hand with a dull 'thud'. He ignored the petrified look on Law's face, sidestepped him and headed straight for the checkout. The only thing Law could hear was the typical noise made by the cash register before darkness engulfed his vision.

At ten-thirty in the morning, Trafalgar Law was discovered lying flat on the ground with his face firmly planted on the floor by the sales assistant.

"Sir?! Are you alright? Are you high?! Are you on medication?!" The salesman with a name badge 'Coby' shook the unmoving body on floor, his voice was all frantic.

"Please…" Coby heard the man mumbled something and dimly wondered how he managed to do that when his face was practically glued to the icy, cold tiled floor. Whatever the trick was, at least he knew the man didn't faint or—gulp—dead.

"… Just kill me right now…" Law finally able to murmur his last will, despair was thick in his voice.

"EEEEEEHHHHH?!"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXx**

Kidd prodded the handmade fish croquette with more than necessary force using the metal spatula to convey his annoyance at the moment. Ever since his encounter with the gray eyed idiot in the bookstore this morning, the redhead felt like he's been thrown into a sea of irritation. Every single thing just didn't feel right and off-balance and no matter how hard the mechanic tried to shook off the unpleasant feeling, the just came back and hit him like a tsunami wave.

So since his return from the bookstore, Kidd immediately did everything in his power to obliterate the man from his brain. To achieve his short term goal, the mechanic decided to clean the living hell out of their apartment—every inch and every corner. He scrubbed down every last pans and pots until they were sparkling, pulverized every stray cobweb, polished all the souvenirs and picture frames and he even gave Nami a thoroughly bath, ignoring the searing pain in his hands when clawed by the annoyed calico. All that work brought several hours of distraction and ease, but now that the cleaning spree had finished, Kidd was distraction-free and therefore, annoyed.

What's that idiot's deal anyway? Being deranged is one thing; crappy pick up lines is another story. Well, not that he was expecting any, but still, it was too cliché he felt like crying.

Eyes twitching erratically, Kidd pressed the patties harder.

"Kidd."

And that lopsided smirk. It was just the kind of smirk that made the redhead wanted nothing more but scrubbed it off his face using an abrasive sponge. His debauchedness was as clear as the blue sky and he didn't even bother to conceal it.

"Kidd."

What's more, the asshole was plainly undressing him with those smoky, sultry eyes. The faint shadows under his eyes looked utterly ridiculous which gave him a villain impression. Give the man a dress coat of black superfine cloth, black cashmere trousers, black poplin waistcoat and a top hat, he could have stepped out of 1870s portrait as a gentleman slash villain with a cynical attitude topped with sexual motive. Not Sexy. Not sexy at all!

"Kidd!"

At hearing his name—the third times always the charm—Kidd finally snapped from his late evening ranting and looked down at the small hand tugging on the hem of his shirt and then up to the owner.

"Wha—what?" Stuttering like an idiot aside, the man just had to wonder why his little brother looking all harassed like that with brows furrowed together. That certainly isn't his everyday expression.

"It's burning." Luffy muttered and nodded to the large skillet.

Kidd followed the gesture and felt the floor below him just crumbled. Inside the skillet was revolting black entities previously identified as fish croquettes and the disgusting smell of burnt food has started to seep into every crevice of the house.

"Fuck!" The redhead couldn't stop the cuss from escaping his mouth and later regretted it when he saw the startled look on Luffy's face.

Turning the gas off, Kidd let his head to fall slightly forward and took a deep breath in. "Sorry, sorry." He went down on his knees and brought Luffy closer, feeling a lot calmer than before. Never in his life would have thought that such a small body could act like a balm on the itch he needed to get rid off so badly.

"I just ran into something annoying this morning and it bothers me a bit. That's all." As he threaded the midnight lock with his fingers, Kidd murmured into the soft strands, ignoring the ticklish feeling on his cheek. All the while, Luffy was still holding a puzzling gaze, especially towards his brother's uncharacteristic behavior. After all, you don't just suddenly hug someone in the kitchen while in the middle of frying croquette, right?

After he ensured the itchy feeling had been reduced to a tolerable degree, it was then the man finally let go off the child and stared at the skillet in pure dismay. "Well, there goes our dinner. And we don't have enough ingredients to make anything else."

And it was all that bastard's fault. Back there, Kidd was rather annoyed that he had forgotten to do the grocery shopping and now look what happened. An utter chaos!

"Takeaway?" Little Luffy suggested as he brushed his bangs away from covering his eyes. They have grown quite long and he wondered if he should trim them a bit.

Kidd nodded and flashed out a small smile. "Takeaway it is."

Together they headed towards the living room to where his cellphone was while the redhead kept Luffy close to him. No one, not even Kidd realized that he could turn into such a clingy person when he was in distressed state. And as they walked, the mechanic made a mental note not to do anything stupid such as accidentally stepping on Nami's tail—

"MROOOWWWWW!"

_Whooopsie._

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N: If any of you ladies or gentleman wondering whether Law is ever going to make his next appearance, then the answer is HELL YEAH! That's because I'm the author and I'm going to make him appear a lot more after this even when the said doctor is currently pointing his nodachi at my neck *sweatdrop***


	13. A Murder Of A Raven

**Chapter 13: A Murder of a Raven**

**A/N: So there you have it. This chapter is totally different from my original 'happy' plot. Still, I needed to thank ****lylli-chan for the idea though. Well, it's different from what she originally suggested, but the idea is her alright. So what's next? Oh yeah, this is a heavy chapter since I just wanted to spice up the story line a bit. I mean, there should be up and down in life, yeah? **

**xoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

"On Your mark. Get set. Go!"

Right away after the three-command start, four boys simultaneously moved their legs forward and away from the starting line of the track field. All shared the same goal. To be the first to reach the finishing line. But naturally, there would be only one winner and among the four, it Luffy who led the 100-m dash despite he was in fact, the smallest boy in the class. The second his foot touched the finishing mark, that was also the same moment the teacher in charge pressed the button of his stopwatch.

'17.10'

"Not bad." Kaku mussed as he jotted down the reading onto his clipboard. "A little bit more and you can be on-par with Ace."

_Only ten millisecond apart from Ace. _Once again, the teacher mussed to himself. Putting aside their peers, with these current records, these two could easily matched those fourth grader boys and with a proper training plus motivation, their athletic ability could be polished for the upcoming track and field event.

Done with the note, the chatain-haired P.E instructor clicked his pen shut and shifted his attention towards the puffing boys. Those four were the last group for the 100m dash try out that signaled the end of that day's P.E class. **[1]**

"Well, we still have around twenty-minutes before the class ends. How about we do an extra four laps?"

A never ending chain of protests and groans reached his ears and Kaku laughed at the despair noises. "I was just kidding. Get yourself clean up before you go for your next class."

Following his words were sighs of relief and a slight cheer as the children quickly scampered away just in case if their teacher suddenly changed his mind. There was no way they would take the chance, not when they were all hot, sweaty and tired to the boot.

"Luffy!" Kaku quickly shouted for the boy before he could get too far from an earshot. Fortunately, he didn't and upon hearing his name being called, the raven-haired boy turned around only to catch a glimpse of his teacher beckoning him to come closer.

"Come here for a sec. And you too, Ace."

Both mentioned boys exchanged a short quizzical look and shrugged before heading towards their teacher.

"What's wrong, Kaku?"

"That's MR. KAKU for you, young man." No matter how hard the young teacher tried to put up a stern, teacher-like façade, he still couldn't prevent the corner of mouth from curling upward at Ace's pouty expression.

"Anyway…" Kaku began as he readjusted his black cap. "Obviously you two hold the fastest record for your class. So I'm thinking about putting you two into hurdles and 100m dash for the track and field day. Of course, Ace would be more suitable doing hurdle since you're taller…"

The freckled cocked his head to his side while his fingers pinched the front of his gym shirts, flapping them back and forth to mimic a fanning motion. The mention of his height somewhat puzzled him a bit. "What do you mean?"

"Not to make fun of anyone… but Luffy is shorter and if he joins the hurdles, there's a high chance his foot may get caught with the bar."

"Oh," Resting his weight on his left foot, the freckled boy shrugged. "Alright. I was planning to join hurdle anyway. Can I join relay too?"

The man chuckled. "Ace, you can't join everything. You need to give everyone else a chance too."

At what Ace considered as declination, the boy huffed slightly in dissatisfaction. "They're probably going to make our class loose this year."

"We don't know that. Stop making guesses before anything happens." Kaku used the clipboard to knock the boy's head but not with a force that would hurt him literally. Still, enough to make his point clear. "Besides, we have Luffy in our class and that's a good thing. So what do you say, Luffy? You okay with 100m dash? Or you want to do 50?"

Large eyes watched the said boy fidgeted and Kaku wasn't ignorant of the cause of such action. On the very first day of his enrollment into that school, his brother had provided him information regarding the boy's background along with his psychological state from A to Z, so he would be the last person to be baffled with Luffy's nervous and avoiding character. It has been months and yet, the boy was still acting all awkward with him although he was his homeroom teacher. Even so, the teacher became aware of the boy's social development over these past months. Still quiet, no doubt about that. But Luffy's presence has become more and more apparent each day unlike before where people barely noticed his shadow. Not only the boy could speak with his class mate a word or two without averting his eyes away, now with more emotions played across that previous doll-like feature.

The progress was slow, but to Kaku, it was close to a miracle.

When he first laid his eyes on Luffy, he had this inkling the child was too damaged to be healed. Scarred, empty with almost no attachment to the world or whatsoever. It actually scared him. Until he met Luffy, Kaku actually had no idea that domestic abuse could break a child to such extent—mentally and physically. How a mother was capable to scar her own child still baffled him to no end.

"Okay." At long last, Luffy finally gave his answer. Long enough for several muses ran through the man's mind. It was hard for him, to make decision, that it since decision-making was never a privilege for him long before Kidd entered his life. Do as told and that's that. There's nothing more, there's nothing less.

But none of that now.

Decision making and expressing thoughts are two things, now he could even perform something with the best of his effort. It was only then Luffy discovered his slightly above average athletic ability that stirred something inside him. Whatever it was, odds were he was feeling rather giddy at the discovery.

"Alright then." Kaku smiled slightly at Luffy's anticipated look. It wasn't clear as the blue sky, but it was there alright.

"But we're still going to discuss about this with the others in class."

Ace scoffed, placing both hands on his hips. "If there's anyone else want to steal my part, I'm going to kick them."

"Please don't" Knowing that Ace is a boy of his words, the teacher cringed. "If possible, I don't want to face your dad for the third time."

The first time was just plain awkward. The second time was plain annoying and Kaku didn't even dare to imagine what the third meeting would lead to. In all honesty, never in his life would have guessed that Ace's papa is a total eccentric man with a large portion of nutjob factor considering the boy's temperament.

A biker guy? Sure.

A beefy, 250 pound guy in a leather jacket? Absolutely.

A kick and fist type of guy? Why not.

But an eccentric, laid back veterinarian? That image had never come across his 23-year old mind. Even worse, the red-haired man came to school clad in a fancy, aloha shirt, knee-length pants and a pair of wood sandals along with a wide, cheery grin as though Kaku had just informed him that his son had captured a 5000-pound sea monster. This is a school, dammit! Not a beach in some summer island!

Long to short, Shanks was just too much for him to handle.

"Well, you don't have to call him to school. You can always pretend it never happens." Ace kicked the dirt into the air, eyeing his teacher through the corner of his brown eyes.

"I wish I could do that, Ace." Shoulder sagged, Kaku sighed. "But there's nothing I could do when the principal decides to take the matter into his hand. Or so he said. But in the end, I'm the one who gets to deal with your dad. Stupid principal."

Both boys gasped. "Kaku, you just swore!" Ace then smirked as he pointed at his teacher accusingly.

"I know, I know. Sorry." The man said apologetically. Almost. "Just… if you really feel the need to kick, just don't get yourself caught." That was probably the worst advice a teacher could provide to a student, but Kaku has always known that Ace is a good kid, minus the temperament of course. It just isn't his nature to harass the weak or the younger, but it's the temperament and the glower that has built his reputation among the students as well the teachers. In return, they keep an arm or two away from him in fear they would only get themselves in trouble if they ever associates with Ace. The only ones who are immune with his reputation are probably Luffy and the blonde kid known as Sabo from another class. From what he had heard, Sabo's dad is by far, the most eccentric man the teachers have ever met. Even worse than Mr. Shanks. How is that even possible?

Alright, let's just not go there for now…

The child-like feature somewhat intensified when Ace grinned. He really likes Kaku and the freckled boy was glad the man was his homeroom teacher. Almost all the other teachers in the school want nothing to do with him. Like he's dangerous and being around him is just another death wish. Another thing he noticed they shares in common is that constant wary look they keeps on throwing at him. But Kaku is different. The chatain-haired teacher never looked at him that way and always backed him up. Couple of times Kaku had defended him when he was in trouble and thus, prevented him from getting expelled from the school. Every so often he felt bad for a being a bother to his teacher but Ace couldn't help it. Those idiots tried to push him around for being mother-less and all, so all he did was pushed them back. In his own means of course.

That being said, Kaku can't forever bail him out when he's in a mess and he needed to keep that in mind.

"You two better go now if you don't want to be late for your class." The chatain-haired teacher reminded the boys as he began to walk back to the school building after collecting the field cones.

"Wait," Ace tugged his teacher's sleeve. "Can Luffy and I have a running match?"

"What?" Together, Luffy and his teacher chorused.

"Just once?" With his best effort, Ace tried to appear cute—anything in order for his request to be granted. "Me and Luffy were in different group just now and we didn't exactly run together…"

Torn, Kaku tried to scratch his head only to be blocked by his cap. "I don't know, Ace… I've kept you guys long enough."

The attempted cute face now replaced by a flat expression. "Kaku, we're going to run. Not crawl for 100m. It'll take only less than twenty seconds."

_Good point_, the teacher thought. "So, Luffy? Are you up for the challenge?"

Said boy looked skeptical for a moment, probably wondering if his physical ability can even match Ace's. However, at the same time, coming out from the shadow was his competitive side that wanted to accept the challenge just to see the end result of their match.

"Uhm." Agreed the smaller raven in which Ace gave a toothy grin at the agreement.

While a small measure of excitement blooming all around the eight year old boys, Kaku felt his heart tickled at the boys' antics. Indeed, those two are an odd pairing anyone could ever imagine. One boy with a bad temperament enough to send random beasts scurrying away with a simple glare and another with a psychological disorder topped with a dark past.

This is why being an elementary school teacher is exciting. For him at least. No drama queens or serious case of bullying like those in high school. Just small children with… original and peculiar personality.

"Alright then. Take your position." The gym teacher then instructed.

They had no problem obliging the order and didn't waste a second to position themselves at the starting line. Two small bodies hunched down, together they set their eyes on the finishing line located hundred meters away, totally disregarding their surrounding. Nothing else matter at that moment. Not even if the school building is on fire or there is a pig flying in the sky. If it's anything, that would be Kaku's signal.

"On your mark."

Feet, hands and rear knees touched the ground. The boys had their bodies leaned forwards with shoulders over the starting line.

"Get set."

With most of their body weight rested on their hands, the boys raised the hips so they came up higher than the shoulders.

"Go!"

On the 'Go' signal, their rear feet immediately left the line as their bodies began accelerating in linear motion. With the same mindset, both Luffy and Ace accelerated throughout the sprint. None of them showed any sign of defeat. Each of them took turns to lead the race and halfway through the race, the boy had begun to reach their top speed.

50 meters.

40 meters.

30 meters.

This is when it finally happened—a too common accident for a runner in which the foot mistakenly steps on uneven surface, causing the leg to pivot into an awkward position and one to fall onto the hard ground.

"Ooof!" Luffy's muffled grunt was barely noticeable when the small frame hit the ground. Perplexed with the sudden change of view—the school ground—it took a solid five seconds for him to finally realize what had occurred just now. The ache around his knees and forearms only justified his realization and judging by the prickling pain, he might as well suffer from small gashes on his arms and knees.

"Luffy!" Ace, who had just grasp the situation quickly dashed back towards the smaller boy limping on the ground.

In a slightly painful state, Luffy tried to push his body up by using his forearms but the sharp, localized throbbing pain around his right ankle joint only cut through his feeble effort.

"What's wrong, Luffy?" Concerned, Ace watched as Luffy's body fall back onto the ground before wrapping his fingers around the other's arm to help the boy up. "Does it hurt a lot?"

Luffy tried flexing his foot only to invite the same pain, only this time, the unpleasant feeling intensified to a certain degree enough to make Luffy gritted his teeth.

"My foot…"

Their teacher came from behind and crouched down to catch Luffy's painful winces. "Everything's alright?"

"Something's wrong with Luffy's leg."

From Ace, Kaku then let his eyes travelled down to the mentioned leg. "Your ankle?"

Luffy nodded.

As his fingers again tried to scratch the non-itchy head, the teacher gave a reassurance look. "I think it's a sprain. I HOPE it's a sprain. Anyway, we better bring you to the infirmary for now."

In one swift movement, Luffy was scooped up by his teacher in bridal style. Given that this was his first being carried by another person other than Kidd, the boy couldn't help from letting out a startled yelp and began squirming in discomfort.

"Don't move too much Luffy or you'll fall."

The discomfort grunts were probably (most probably) connected with the boy's disorder but there weren't many options left at that moment. To have Ace carry the smaller raven was totally out of question and more than enough minutes would be wasted if he just stood there contemplating on the next move.

"Kaku, hurry!" Ace tugged the hem of his teacher's shirt to urge the man.

"Calm down, Ace. I know you're worried." The man shushed the boy as they began to walk back into the school building. Of course he understood the child's care towards his friend, but it wasn't like he could just sprint to the infirmary in top speed with a mentally-ill boy in his arms. That reckless action not only might fright him to death, but as well as the whole residents in the school. After all, his top speed is—that's enough. Maybe discussing about his own athletic knack right now is not a good idea.

"The infirmary and the nurse won't run away even if we walk—" Kaku paused when he noticed the lack of Ace's presence next to him. Only then he discovered the boy was falling behind by at least ten steps and seen panting for his breath as he tried to catch up with his teacher. By then, the man realized his so called 'brisk walk' was too fast for an eight year old standard or anyone in matter especially when Luffy was holding on his shirts for his dear life.

Dammit… See? Exactly his point.

Soon enough, they arrived at their destination only to witness a dismaying sight.

An empty infirmary where the nurse was nowhere to be found.

Kaku didn't bother to hide his frustration by groaning as he placed the injured boy gently on one of the empty beds. Of all the time of the day, why—just why the nurse wasn't available when their expertise was needed?

"I'll go find the nurse. Ace, you need to get back to your class." Standing by the doorway, Kaku beckoned for the boy to follow him.

"Nooo! Can't I stay?"

"Acee!" Kaku moaned in distressed. This boy just had to be stubborn at a wrong place and wrong time.

"Kakuuu!" The boy whined back, ignoring the funny look Luffy was giving.

This is really going nowhere. "Fine! But only until the nurse come, alright? By then, I'm going to drag your ass back to class myself."

Without giving Ace the chance to retort, Kaku quickly escaped and closed the door behind him to hunt down the M.I.A nurse. As soon as the door was closed with a muffled click, Ace stuck out his tongue in a childish manner. "Bah! I'm going to skip class anyway." After all, the teachers were more than happy if he doesn't stir problems for the day, so skipping a class or two is just like a tip of an iceberg.

"I'm going to call Sabo later." Grinning, the freckled boy sat on the swivel chair and twirled around a couple of time before he finally settled down. Now that he was bored with the twirling game, Ace then stood up and began to wonder around the frigid room. There were definitely more posters stuck to the wall than the last time he was there. One that attracted his attention the most was a poster of a white bunny clad in doctor-like attire—a white coat, a stethoscope together with a flash light. How funny… Even the vet doesn't have this kind of poster. Instead, the animal clinic was decorated with Shanks' underwater centerpieces, pictures of coconut trees and a banjo.

Moving on, Ace paused in front of a clear glass cabinet and ogled the small, neatly arranged bottles filling the shelves. His fingers tested the integrity of the cabinet only to find it locked. Drat. A tad disappointed, the boy the channeled his curiosity onto the more assessable items. Like the tongue depressor for instant.

"It's always boring here in this room. I don't really like it but we can skip class and sleep here until the school is over." The boy mumbled through a mouthful of tongue depressor as he gnawed on the piece of wood. Now this is something he's familiar with. "How's the infirmary in your old school? Is it fun? Any weird skeleton inside?"

"I…" A hesitant look. "I've never been to infirmary. This is my first." Because if he did, then the school nurse would eventually pick up the telltale of his dark story. The would see. They would know. He would be exposed. Just the very thought of it dreaded him.

A long stretch of solitude hung in the air, slowly enclosing them and the silence somewhat bothered Ace, more so at Luffy's blank expression. To a certain degree, it was almost sad but the freckled boy couldn't really decide. Just when the silence was about to hug them tighter, it was sliced through by a clicking sound made by the door being opened.

Stood by the doorway was a slim, tall male with an olive complexion. Bathed under the temper illumination thanks to the sunlight outside, Ace immediately spotted the twin gold loops on both his earlobes that seemed to gleam like crazy. For someone as wary as Ace, this man looked extremely suspicious to him. They made an eye contact and Ace frowned at the newcomer's sudden entrance. None of the parties made a move to break the tension at first but after a good minute or two, it was Ace who did the first not-so-polite greeting.

"Who argh ryou?"

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"Who argh ryou?"

Law raised an eyebrow at the freckled boy sitting on the swivel chair. His expression was all displeased but the way he spoke through a mouthful of half-chewed tongue depressor only dampened his effort to look fierce. Unfazed with the attempt, the man proceeded entering the room and closed the door behind him.

"I'm the school nurse." He emphasized his answer by tugging the collar of his white coat.

If possible, the frown only went deeper. "No you're not. Miss Makino is the school nurse. Where is she?" Half-chewed tongue depressor now dangled in between his fingers, Ace shot back while he eyed warily at Law who casually leaned against the wall next to the door.

"Don't worry, Little Ace. Miss Makino hasn't disappeared yet. She's on leave only for today." Law smirked when Ace bristled at him, probably at being called 'little.' "And I'm the NEW nurse, so you have two nurses right now. Actually I'm a doctor but acting as a nurse in this school. In fact, the chair you're sitting right now is MY chair."

Still in doubt, Ace slowly looked over the desk to search for any evidence of the man's exclamation just now. There, just next to the calendar, sat a single name tag. As a matter of fact, the boy had just noticed they were indeed two desks inside the room instead of the usual single one.

What—he hasn't been to the infirmary for a month and yet, there were already this much transformation going on?

"Trafalgar Law…" Ace read the name loudly.

"That's me. But you may call me Dr. Law or just Mr. Law."

Cognac brown eyes scanned the man from top to bottom, left to right. No matter what method he utilized to examine the man, nothing about the man spelled or smelled like doctor.

"You don't look like Trafalgar Law."

"Oh?" Intrigued by the boy's sudden come back, Law tilted his head to the side almost like a curious child.

"You look more like…" Pausing, Ace mulled over his next words before began the inspection process all over again. From the earrings, the dark lines underneath those lazy eyes and down the debauched look. Then it hit him.

"Creepy-Guy." The raven nodded in satisfaction at his creativity. "Yeah, that's right. Dr. Creepy-Guy. That suits you better although you still don't look like a doctor." Well, not like Shanks looked like a normal doctor himself but still, this guy was shadier.

For a split second, the self-proclaim nurse felt his left eye twitched erratically. Ohoo… This kid is quite good. Now that his childish side was back, he didn't feel the slightest desire to back down. Even if his opponent was a mere eight year old child.

"Well, I think you're just jealous because the name Trafalgar Law is way cooler than yours, Little A-Cey. And it doesn't matter if I don't look like a doctor. I'm still going to be the nurse in this school for the next few years and you're still going to see ME every time you have a boo-boo."

Hah! Take that Mr. Smarty Pants!

In cruel reality, this wasn't the first time he was commented regarding his 'non-doctor' attitude. Really, is there even a standard appearance for doctors? Does a doctor really need to wear glasses, part his hair in the middle and smiles non-stop until he suffers from a major muscles cramp? Now that's a real definition a creep. At any rate, these people's opinion doesn't concern him the least. Medicines and human anatomies have always been his passion despite the different ideology his father had tried to pummel into him. So on the very same day he turned eighteen, he fled the house in order for him to pursue his life-long dream without having to face the old man's non-stop objections. **[2]**

Then, life just moved on like a stream. Just moving forward without the need to look back or even pause.

Right after he graduated from the university with Bachelor's Degree of Biology in his hand four years ago, Law didn't think twice to take the Medical College Admission Test for him to be able to enter his medical school of choice.

Later during his third year of study, he went for pediatrics as his specialized field, ignoring the flabbergasted expression of his peers as well as professors. The decision baffled him too, no doubt about that. But he knew he would enjoy the interesting and challenging world of dealing with and treating children. It was how these children demonstrate their courage that influenced him to embrace this particular area—small, fragile looking bodies and yet, their guts to overcome the fear of needles and bitter medicine are far beyond of those adults out there.

Once he was done with his medical school, Law was now officially a doctor. However, for him to start his own practice, he must complete his residency training before he could be fully certified in pediatrics.

Of course, he still needed to past a rigorous test first before everything. Damn…

So that's explained his position as the nurse of an elementary school for the next few years before he received his certificate from Accreditation Council—The ultimate goal of a pediatrician's training. When that day finally arrives, the first thing Law is going to do is shove the certificate right into his arrogant father's nostril. Now who's the fool? **[3]**

Hah!

HAH!

Hopefully the old goat would choke on his own damn cigars. That would definitely serve as an element of happiness of the day.

Back to the children, the boys were having a rather hard time comprehending the reasons behind the so called Dr. Law's odd behaviors. One second he wore this serious façade and the next second he was smirking and grinning like a villain character in Saturday morning cartoon. More reason to regard this man as a creep.

Ignoring the two pairs of wary eyes, the self-proclaimed nurse inched towards Luffy. "So you're Luffy, yes? Mr. Kaku told me what happened."

For him to diagnose the boy, Law kneeled down and began to peel the shoe of his injured foot. All the while, Luffy's eyes never left the man's hands. Watch him untied his shoelace with his tattooed fingers. Watch him removed the shoe as gentle as possible.

Tattoos…

Ever so slowly, the child's eyes began to enlarge. Fraction by fraction each time as his mind started to race with dreadful thoughts—the unforgiving tattooed hands that used to run across his feet, the lips that always curdled into a snarl, revealing a sinister side and the eyes that were empty as an air. Unnoticed by the man, Luffy began to sweat and tremble, but that was just a start. He then scrunched his eyes shut and allowed the black behind his eyes to move around. And when he opened them back, her image filled his vision and took the place of any awareness he might have had. Like a shadow, those unkind hands crept towards him—to hurt him, to wound him—. There was this unpleasant tightness in his chest and his heart pulsating so fast Luffy could almost hear the beatings in his head. Every agonizing second mounted into terror and when she looked up, the child felt the floor underneath him just shrunk. **[4]**

_You've been a very bad child, Luffy. Bad child needs to be punished._

She saw him. She **SAW** him.

"NOOO!"

Terror and fear took over the boy's half-torn sanity, forcing him to wrench his throbbing leg away from the cage of horror. His foot was protesting at the sudden rough treatment, Luffy was aware of that. But that didn't stop him from rearing backward, body unconsciously searching for some place safe where nothing could curse their way towards him. With that wobbly legs and feeble strength, Luffy limped, crawled and dragged his body to the far end corner of the room and hugged his knees closed to his heaving chest.

Back and time. Back and time. Back and time. Again and again his mind traveled with that pace and for every cycle, Luffy felt the ache came back with much greater force each time. Until one point, the child's teeth started to make a clattering noise but still failed to mask the never ending whispers of 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.'

Ten meters away, stunned and slightly taken back, the only things Law was capable during that moments were to sit there on the floor, unable to put this and that together. During the tremor earlier, Luffy's knee managed to make contact with his chin and forced him to back away a couple of inches. Everything happened too fast. One moment he was still pealing the sock out of the child's foot, the next moment Luffy screamed bloody murder and dashed towards the farthest corner of the room before curling himself around as though he was dangerous. That's right. Like he was going to hurt the boy in one way or another. Even Ace was shaken by the tremor; enough to cause the boy toppled over the swivel chair and later joined him on the floor. From his position, Law couldn't really distinguish the words coming out from the quivering child. It was as if the boy was chanting a mantra that could save him from drowning in the sea of pain.

It took another minute for them to stare at Luffy in confusion and another minute to finally pull themselves up from that dismal position. "W-what did you do?!" Still holding the chair for his support, Ace hissed at Law.

"I didn't do anything!" At least, that was he thought. But if that was the case, then why in the hell did the child look like something dreadful was squeezing every drop of the boy's life force?

Ace tugged the doctor's white coat. "Do something!"

Ignoring the relentless tug on his coat, Law continued to stare at the boy. Nothing has changed. Luffy was still shaking like a leaf and he was still standing there like a pole. Few minutes were all it took for him to recognize the signs of panic attack—the intense fearfulness, the shortness of breaths and the trembling. By logic, he should have known on how to deal with panic attack considering his profession. The knowledge was there all right but to address it in real life was another story. For a start, he needed to identify the sources that reinforce the panic symptoms before anything else.

That was the main problem.

Something about HIM was the trigger. To make the matter worse, he had no fucking idea what it was.

Seeing the doctor next to him just froze on his spot, Ace finally gave up even though deep inside he really had this urge to kick man's shin if that would snap him out of his mid-day trance.

"Ugghhh! You're useless!" With a huff, the freckled boy stalked for the door. Each passing minutes only aggravated him more. Nothing productive could be achieved if they just stood there doing absolutely nothing when Luffy was nowhere getting any better. He wasn't sure what had become the issue, but all he knew was that he needed to seek help.

Just when his fingers grazed the doorknob, a larger hand latched around his wrist—firm and unyielding. Ace looked up and another impatient frown immediately marred his face.

"Wait." Law gasped out, cutting through whatever bristle the boy had in mind. "I'll go. I'll find Mr. Kaku." Dense as he could be, he knew if he tried to approach Luffy while the boy was in that fragile state of mind, the effort would probably bite him back in the ass and the result would be less peachy. "Please."

Five seconds of soul-destroying silence ensued. And much to Law's mild surprise, from the expression that almost wanted to throttle him moments ago, the boy's features had shifted into somewhat understanding. Nodding, Ace moved sideways and allowed the man to leave the room without muttering a single word.

Heart thundering like a tribal drum, it took every ounce of his will to walk instead of running like hell down the hallway of the school. But after a minute, Law finally gave up to the temptation and picked up his pace. It was ridiculous! He has been holding the position of the school nurse not more than a month, yet here he was, already dashing his way through like he was being chased by a man-eating leopard.

His destination: The P.E Store Room.

"MR. KAKU!" Law expressed his panic by yelling the gym teacher's name once he located the target who was in the middle of organizing the used equipments back into their proper place.

On Kaku's end, the chatain-haired P.E instructor was close from dropping the red field cone in his hand and let out unmanly shriek just by looking at Law's disheveled shape—hair stuck out in every direction with alarm reflected in those wide gray eyes. For the usual laid back Law to behave such, something must have happened. Or something bad to be precise.

Kaku had a bad feeling about this.

"What's wrong, Law?"

"It's about your student, Luffy."

The cone was dropped with a clatter before Kaku left the store room in a hurry with a confidence that the doctor was following him.

"What happened?" There was no slightest humor laced in his voice as Kaku did one of his infamous brisk walk. Law was panting next to him just to match his pace but at the moment, both men realized they didn't have all the luxury to stroll around and discuss about today's weather.

"I'm not sure myself. I was trying to take a look at his foot and then bam! Just like that, he suddenly screamed and freaked out!" He must have sounded like a blabbering lunatic by now, but he couldn't care less as long Law could get his points across. "I don't think I did anything weird. I mean, Ace was there and—"

"It's alright. I believe you." Kaku interrupted. As shady as he seemed, he understood that Law would never bear any ill-intention towards the students. The problem now lies within Luffy's himself. "I should have mention to you about his condition."

"His condition?" Frowning, Law almost tripped over his own feet but quickly regained his footing. If it wasn't for the 'no running in the hallway' rule, they both would be sprinting their way by now.

They rounded the corner and the infirmary sign finally came into sight. "It's not a happy tale."

"I can tell that."

Deep breath, the chatain-haired teacher leaned his weight slightly to ease the door open. They didn't show any intention of wanting to enter, just peaking inside through the small gap. Inside the room, nothing much has changed, in Law's opinion. Things were just the same as when he had left them. It wasn't good news by any means but at least, the situation didn't get any more worse.

Noticing the adults' arrival, Ace quickly went over to his teacher. Since Law's departure, the boy didn't make any attempt approaching Luffy since everything was so confusing and downright scary. Something was definitely wrong with the smaller raven. Even he could tell. "Kaku..! Luffy, he—"

"Shusshh…" Kaku gently shushed the boy and pulled him closer, away from Luffy's earshot. "How's Luffy?"

"He won't talk. He just stays there."

Kaku turned to his side and saw Law nodding his head towards the specific direction at the far end corner of the room. His eyes followed the direction and his heart immediately clenched at the sight. As if he was trying to make himself invisible to the naked eyes of the monsters inside his mind, Luffy was crouching on the floor, shoulders slumped. His forehead was leaning on one knee and even though the sunlight hit the back of his head, nothing reflected back. It was as though there was a liquid pool of black drowning all those lights around the boy. At that time, the boy as raw and naked as a person could be.

Ignoring the need to analyze the situation more, Kaku quickly fished out his cellphone.

"Who are you calling?" Law whispered in curiosity. Similar to him, Ace too shared the same peeling and stood on his tippy toe to peer at his teacher's phone. But given that Kaku was a lot taller than him, the boy effort was met with less success.

As a sign of comfort, Kaku placed his hand on top of Ace's dark head to calm the jittery boy while his other hand held the phone next to his ear. "The only person in this world who knows how to handle Luffy."

On the fourth ring, "Hello."

"Eustass Kidd? I'm Kaku, Luffy's homeroom teacher. Do you remember?"

At once, there was a clattering sound in the background probably caused by some sort of metallic equipment being dropped down.

"Something happened to Luffy?" The man at the end of the other line questioned, concerned was heavy in his voice.

_He's sharp_. In contemplation, Kaku inhaled a large amount of oxygen. Breaking news was never his forte, particularly bad news in that matter. "Yeah. Something is definitely wrong with your brother. So can you—"

"I'll be there in fifteen."

The line was cut before Kaku could even blink. That was quick. This guy really doesn't mince matters.

"Now what do we do?" The doctor peered back into the room just to make sure Luffy was still there.

"We wait."

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They waited. And waited. And waited. All the while, Law felt like climbing up the wall by using only his fingernails. He had never been this tense in his life. Even worse than the time when he had his first tattoo done. Every move made him nervous and every sound made him twitched. Indeed it was driving him crazy. So when school bell rang indicating the end of that period, Law nearly let out a shriek that was similar to a chick from the third rate horror movie.

"Kaku?" A deep, rumbling voice echoed behind him.

Law practically froze and his heart stopped thumping at the same time. That voice. He'd recognized that voice anywhere. The very same sexy accent that hunted him every relentless night for days on and on.

With a deliberate slowness, the doctor turned around, swallowing thickly to clear his throat. When he finally looked up, Law felt his breath hitch especially when a pair of powerful amber eyes was studying him with the same disbelief dancing in them. Tall and gorgeous with a hint of gruffness, Mr. Hot and Sexy appeared just as he had remembered. For the next few seconds, Law rolled his tongue around to make it work again while wrestling off the thoughts to jump him.

Luckily, shocked as he was, Kidd didn't require that much own sweet time to regain his self-control and just like that, he averted his eyes away, totally dismissing the doctor.

"What happened?" Without holding back, the pale man narrowed his eyes, specifically towards Law. Since Kidd knew the ebony-haired man before him couldn't think well, let alone speak, he quickly referred to Kaku to offer him adequate details regarding the situation.

"I can ensure you, Eustass, that Law didn't do anything harmful to your brother. If it's anything, I'm the one to be blamed here since I didn't tell him about Luffy's condition." Kaku put himself in between Kidd and Law so the man's gaze wouldn't penetrate through the doctor's head and create a massive hole. He wasn't sure what the issue between these two was or whether they were acquainted, but at the moment to him, any mediocre matters should be buried ten feet below the ground. They could gauge each other's eyes for all he cares, but none of that now.

"Luffy suddenly became scared when Law tried to take a look on his foot." The teacher continued and felt a tad at ease when the man's eyes weren't as intense as before.

"What about his foot?"

"Sprained ankle." Kaku replied briefly.

"And he—you touched his foot?"

Knowing that the question was directed to none other than him, Law could only give a feeble nod. Somewhere along, he couldn't help from feeling that this entire ordeal actually caused by him, even if it was only by an accident. And now he really felt like a royal shit.

More than a minute had passed since Law's revelation. Meaning that, more than a minute of pregnant silence with both Law and Kaku waited for any come back from the mechanic. None of that came about when Kidd was in deep thought, his arms crossed over his chest. Then, ever so slowly, he allowed those calculative eyes roamed over the jumpy doctor and took in every tiny detail of the other's features but before long, his gaze finally settled on Law's arms.

Tattooed hands… injured foot…

They could tell realization hit the pale man when Kidd's serious façade now twisted into comprehension.

"Where's he?" Kidd knew he should at least reveal his newfound conclusion just now, but the mechanic felt that wasn't the best time to do so. For now, Luffy needed him and that was all that matters.

"Here." Kaku gestured at the infirmary. "Ace is inside too."

Not long after the call, the teacher had ushered Ace back into the infirmary. Someone ought to watch over Luffy and Kaku deemed that the child would be less frightened in his friend's presence. In short—less adults, more close friends.

Kidd nodded, opened the door and met with a distressed grip on the hem of his jacket.

"Kidd, you came!" A very huge amount of relief swept over the freckled boy at the man's appearance.

The said man flashed out a small smile and his eyes then traveled from the boy toward the small quivering frame of Luffy's.

"Ace…" Stood by the doorway, Kaku beckoned the boy to come closer. "Let's wait outside."

"No." Kidd turned to the teacher. "He'll stay and I need you to come inside."

Thin chestnut eyebrow rose at the request. Luffy was probably seeing them as flesh eating monsters and this guy suggested his presence. "Me?"

"Yeah, you." The mechanic confirmed the man's doubt. "And you too." He then nodded at Law, causing the man almost to jump at the commanding tone.

Kaku looked over the small child before shifted his focus back to Kidd. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea. I mean, how our presence is going to make his condition any better?"

"As a reassurance."

Now both eyebrows rose. The teacher felt like objecting the idea but the insistent ambience of the man's diminished his inner call. For now, they didn't really have many options but to trust Kidd's judgment. After all, he most likely the only person knew Luffy the best.

So they both stepped inside, but only a couple of steps away from the door. Just in case if anything happened in which they needed to get the hell out from the room. Kaku even brought Ace close to him so Kidd would be able to do things without much interference.

Step by step, Kidd took the measures necessary to place himself near enough to touch Luffy. He crouched down and as gently as he could, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

And by that moment he immediately knew the worst was going to make an appearance.

Luffy jerked and snapped his head back, clunking against the wall. Eyes scrunched shut; he released a strangled screech as he cowered against the wall behind him. On his vantage point, Law could make out the boy's limbs flew all over the directions; some even caught Kidd in the chin and chest. The man however, ignored the frail, desperate assault and easily gripped Luffy's left arm with one hand, while the other went to circle the child's back to heave him closer.

As the living bundle in his arms squirmed and screamed, Kidd pressed Luffy's head into his chest, but not enough to suffocate the child. "Husshh..! It's me, Luffy! Can you hear me?"

"Hurt! IT HURT! IT HURT!" The said boy choked on his voice, barely endured the deafness of his own cries. The unbearable sounds from his fleeting nightmares were ringing in his ears.

"Luffy, please… Just listen to my voice. Don't listen to anything else, just focus on me." Again, Kidd tried and this time, his voice was much clearer and by any means, closer so he could break through that wall of fear. When Luffy struggles started to fade even by the tiniest, he knew his effort wasn't fruitless.

"Can you hear me now, Luffy?" His pale hand went to rub the small back and along the spine while the other keeping the boy face flushed against his chest. Labored and uneven breathings, Luffy slowly nodded but still refused to reveal himself to the world.

"It's okay. You don't have to open your eyes yet." Kidd murmured into the child's dark strands. "Do you know who I am?"

Once again, he nodded before offering an answer that made Kidd sighed in relief. "Kidd."

"Good. That's very good, Luffy." First step was clear and now moved on to the next one. At least his brother still recognized him. "Now I need you to open your eyes very, very slowly. Can you do that for me?"

Almost in defiance, the boy clutched on the fabric of his brother's top and hid his face further into the fold of the jacket as the fragments of those unkind reminiscence has yet to leave his cloudy mind.

"As long as I'm here, there's nothing in this world that can hurt you anymore. Not even **HER**. I promised, remember? Do you believe me, Luffy?" Kidd tried to coax the boy who was in the verge of losing the reality. No, the mechanic had to prevent that from happening. Or else every single thing they have achieved until now would be burned into ashes and what's worse, there's even a tiniest likelihood for Luffy to revert to his old self. And Kidd isn't one to take chances.

The frightened child bobbed his head once, his breaths left him in small gasps.

"If you do, then you have to open your eyes for me. I'm going to prove to you there's nothing here to be scared of. Everything you saw just now is just a bad dream. And if you want to wake up from a bad dream, you'll have to open your eyes, right?" The man felt his brother nodded and made a muffled sound of 'uhm' in which he took it as a sign of agreement. "In a count of three, you're going to open your eyes very slowly. Is that okay?"

A minute or two went by just like that without as much a twitch from Luffy. Just when Kidd deemed his coax was met with failure, the mechanic felt a slight movement around his chest area—a hesitant nod. That was all the confirmation he needed to know that it was safe to proceed to the next step.

"One."

Luffy gulped and tightened his hold on Kidd.

"Two."

The head moved passed Kidd's shoulder barely by half with eyelids still glued together.

"Three."

Finally, the moment of truth arrived. In a small increment, Luffy let his eyes fluttered open. When the first light assaulted his vision, the boy felt something was twisting his guts together, causing the air to leave his lungs faster than any possible moment. Now even breathing felt like an act of challenge. But Kidd's voice of promises managed to mask that ringing noises he has been hearing and with that as a charm, Luffy forced his eyes to stay awake.

Pupils as large as the size of an olive, the child's eyes roamed all over the room—every hollow, every corner and every crevice—until they brown orbs settled on the group of people.

Then it happened again. The screaming, the flailing and disarrayed words. To the outside, oblivious people, it was as though someone was being tortured inside the room. Given no choice, Kidd used his hand to cover Luffy's mouth to tone down the noise so they wouldn't have to face the like hood of cops busting down the door with suspicion that someone really was being persecuted inside the infirmary.

"Mmmpphh—hhmmpp!" As he failed to convey his frenzied, incoherent warnings, Luffy tried to lower his head and close his eyes back but the man predicted his intention far ahead.

"No, no, no, Luffy! Don't close your eyes!" Releasing the child's mouth, Kidd then used the same hand to hold Luffy's head in place. The boy struggled and squirmed against the grip, but the hold was like an iron. He might end up pulling few of Luffy's raven strands, but he would deal with the apology later.

"Look at them closely." The mechanic ignored the pain inflicted by Luffy's nail digging into his arms and continued to convince his brother. He had a feeling there might be some blood spilt or at least numerous angry marks left on his arms.

The other occupants inside the room weren't far from panicking either, especially the grey eyed doctor. He felt his stomach churned and Law had to keep reminding himself that he needed to fucking breathe properly. One distressed boy was more than enough, the man was certain that an additional of a hyperventilating man wouldn't be appreciated at that time around. At that new angle, Luffy's eyes caught the light streaming the window from outside and reflected it back at Law in an eerie brownish-black glow.

"Kidd! She—She—" It took every ounce of his strength just to spew those barely recognizable words, but for Kidd, he could already narrate the story playing inside his brother's mind just by those hints.

"It's not her, Luffy. Take a deep breath and look at them carefully. She's NOT here."

Luffy's back was taut like a bow string to emphasize the degree of tension the child was experiencing. Despite that, he still braved himself to fulfill his brother's request. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. By the time the boy reached the tenth cycle, the picture before his eyes started to melt and replaced by a different, brand new one—brighter room instead of a dark, gloomy space, cute colorful posters decorating the wall in place of blackish-green molds and people he recognized.

As his mind started to clear the mess, the trembling too began to subside. This didn't go unnoticed by Kidd.

"Hey…" With his blunt fingernails, the mechanic scrapped Luffy's scalp in apologizing manner for his earlier rough treatment. Kidd hugged him closer until he could feel the boy's pulsating heartbeat across his chest with a hope that the warmth could act as a salve to the reopened wound.

"You okay?"

The slow even breathing of the boy's said it all.

"Do you recognize them?"

Similar as before, Luffy didn't show any indication that he would answer the question any time soon. Instead, he took in the view presented before him, engraved it into his brain before analyzing—his homeroom teacher, Ace and the new self proclaimed nurse. Bits and pieces of memory from back there flashed in front of his eyes. From the moment of him running on the school field, his injured leg, him being carried to the infirmary, the arrival of the nurse and the heated quarrel between Ace and the man.

Then the motion picture stopped. Not like when the movie on the television was being halted by the pause button. Rather, everything was too blurry.

What was it about the man that scared him? Luffy couldn't remember. The fear and terror—there were they alright but he wasn't able to put two and two together. What's more, after the blurry film strip, all of sudden an odd image popped up—image of his teachers along with Ace looking at his direction with a funny expression. Then he looked down and up before catching a glimpse of broad chest and Kidd's worried face. Startled, it had come to his realization that he was currently being cradled in the mechanic's arms.

What was his brother doing there? Or to be precise, when did Kidd get there?

Kidd looked down to meet Luffy's gaze. Soft amber locked with nut-brown. To Kidd's relief, the rage and panic drained away, but now replaced by something else. No more pupils large as an olive or unfocused eyes. Only blank look. A total blank and confused gaze with eyes translucent like a smoky quartz. There was nothing in that stare that stored any evidence of the panic attack which took place just now.

And it bothered Kidd. Very much.

"Kidd?"

"What is it, Luffy?" Kidd saw the child corked his head innocently. Even the tone used held no panic in it—clear, medium pitch and minus the stutter. It was as if his brother was asking if Nami could sleep with him for the night.

"What are you doing here?"

Kidd mentally and physically froze.

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N: A cliffhanger! I didn't plan to end the chapter with a cliffhanger though, but to be honest, I'm too tired to type anymore. Besides, I think this is my first cliffhanger ever, so umm… Don't kill me! Eeekkk! And yes, I know the ending is a bit confusing where Luffy really is experiencing a memory loss, but I will explain that in more detail in the next chapter.**

**[1] Chatain is a French word for chestnut. **

**[2] Well, I think I gave enough hints about Law's dad. What?! You guys still haven't figured it out?! Where's the whip?!**

**[3] In reality, they (doctors) need to complete their residency training in a real hospital supervised by other doctors. But well… Arrkkk, all the doctors out there, please don't throw scalpels at me!**

**[4] There's no typo error here. I did write 'SHE'.**


	14. He's Everywhere!

**Chapter 14: He's Everywhere!**

**A/N: Well… Now that everyone has been blowing their heads off because of the previous cliffhanger, so this chapter basically explains everything you guys needed to know. And one more thing, a lot of you (everyone in fact) has guessed that Smoker is Law's daddy. Somehow I could relate that considering their chemistry, but sadly the answer in a NO. So I'm giving out more hints in this chapter..**

* * *

**xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Kidd stared at the equally confused child in front of him, his amber eyes stuck on Luffy's nut brown. Riddle after riddle dangling right before him, so close he could almost touch them, feel them and squeeze them. But alas, the answer was nowhere within vicinity. Among all, one riddle held the most supreme power.

What exactly did Luffy mean by that?

The redhead decided to throw him a rope. "You have P.E just now, right?"

Said child didn't reply right away, probably wondering why his earlier question wasn't answered and why it was overtop with yet another question. Still, he acknowledged his brother and made an effort to respond to it by nodding.

"What did you do?" Kidd prodded more.

"Eh?" Simple question and yet Luffy had a hard time to comprehend it. So it's only natural for him only to reply after a long stretch of confused silence. "We had a 100-m dash try out today."

"Oh?" Kidd readjusted his hold on Luffy so the boy wouldn't slip off his hips. "Did you win?"

The raven nodded, catching the proud glint in Kidd's eyes. "And then I fell and Mr. Kaku brought me here."

Here comes the tricky part. "And then what happened?" Kidd asked carefully.

Nut-brown orbs then traveled from Kidd towards the dark skinned man who was a hair close from flatting himself against the wall behind him. The eyes lingered Law in wariness. "He came."

Next, nothing.

Dark hazes circled his thought and he couldn't recognize anything that was presented in the disorganized motion picture. Every single image seemed to be broken and dismembered. Luffy took few deep breaths as he tried to remember but to no avail.

Kidd watched the boy in his silent state, feeling Luffy was far beyond in the stillness of the room even though in reality he was still within the same dimension as him. Not once had his brother abandoned his gaze on the ebony haired man. A little seed of worry started to gnaw his inside. And the mechanic knew he had every right to feel such when Luffy revealed a startling confession.

"And then… everything's black."

Biting the inside of his cheek, Kidd blinked at that. How was that even possible? By black, did Luffy mean the black like when someone blacks out? No, that couldn't be it. His brother was conscious during all that commotion. Fuck, he even responded to him. Now he was officially left with hundreds more questions and Kidd had no slightest idea on how to process them let alone to produce logical answers. An intense battle ensued inside his head but after a short moment, the man had come to a decision to put a hold on that riddles. As for now, he needed to focus on more important matter.

First step; put an end to Luffy's confusion. His earlier panic attack required a lot and lots of mental energy and Kidd was certain his brother didn't need anything the involved any more brain activity.

"You fainted." Kidd finally spoke with enough calmness in contrast with his raging inner turmoil.

"Fainted...?" Innocence was reflected in those dark eyes. Blurred vision, ringing in his ears and harsh heartbeats—is that what it means by fainting? Luffy wasn't sure but above all, he had decided that it wasn't a pleasant experience.

"That's right. That's why your teacher called me to come here. Maybe you were just… too tired." Half of the statement was true though. But the untrue counterpart was making him to feel like an asshole. For some unknown reason, Luffy had failed to recall anything during his panic attack scene. Kidd had yet to determine whether it was a blessed or a curse.

For now, the redhead would pick the first choice. Just to make him feel a tad better. It did, miraculously.

Like a wary small animal, Luffy allowed his eyes once again to linger on Law. Part of his face was obscured by his brother's shoulder while teeth unconsciously tugging the button of Kidd's jacket. His earlier question was officially answered but something was off. He couldn't decide what it was but the small voice at the back of his head was telling him that it had something to do with the man.

"He's a doctor."

The small head perked up at the foreign word as though it was never registered into his terminology. "Doctor..?" Luffy mumbled questioningly through a mouthful of button, receiving a raised eyebrow from Kidd.

The man however, ignored his newfound habit and nodded. "Yeah. Doctors are good people." Well, minus the creepy attitudes of course. And the one cowering at the corner right now wouldn't have his name written inside his favorite list anytime soon, but Luffy didn't have to know about it. "He's going to fix your foot."

"… My foot?" And Luffy suddenly winced. It was only that moment he felt the unpleasant sensation around his ankle.

"Yeah. You fell down and got your foot injured." At the same moment, Kidd willed himself from frowning and making any weird expression. It was like Luffy had a hard time keeping up even with his current condition. Now it was the time to test the water further. "Do you remember that time when you fell and hurt your knee?"

Still nibbling on the button, the boy nodded. It was confirmed then. The omitted scenes of his memory were only during the panic attack. At least, that was what Kidd kept on enlightening himself.

"The doctor is going to take a look of your foot and the fix it the same way I did back there."

Luffy tugged the button harder, loosening the threads connected to the fabric. He then looked back at his foot and wiggled his toe—

Suddenly, the raven frowned. He was seeing his own naked toe and it took another five seconds for his to process that he was missing a shoe. His eyes roamed across the floor to hunt for the missing shoe while his mind pondered over the mystery.

In his arms, the redhead felt the restless shifting. "What's wrong, Luffy?"

"My shoe." Muffled by the half-chewed button, Luffy mumbled and wiggled more to extend the search area. But the strong, firm hold of Kidd's and his aching foot only dampened his effort.

"It fell off when you fainted." Like water, the answer just poured out from Kidd's mouth. Indeed, it sounded natural and actually scared the redhead.

"Oh." The boy swallowed the answer.

"Alright, then. Now to fix that leg…" Kidd slid one arm underneath his brother's thighs and lifted the small frame while the other hand safely supported Luffy's back. Legs dangled at each side of his brother's hips, the boy instinctively circled his arms around Kidd's neck at the sudden change of altitude.

Ten long strides was all the tall male required to reach the bed before Kidd gently placed Luffy onto the bouncy mattress. He was about to straightened up his pose when he felt the soft tugging at the front of his jacket. Looking down with a slight puzzlement, the mechanic noticed Luffy's front teeth was still clenching on the button of his jacket.

"Luffy, you need to let go of that button."

Another three seconds of absent minded chewing, it was only then Luffy released the button with a small 'click'. Ignoring the small patch of saliva stain on his jacket, Kidd then settled his attention on the group of people, particularly on Law.

Law flinched. Somewhere inside the vicinity of his throat, the nurse felt his heart thumping harshly enough to make him feel like vomiting the piece of organ out through his mouth. This is it. A punch was probably coming into his way now that's everything was settled—a fitting sentence for initiating panic attack on that guy's little brother. Fuck, this is crisis! While the man called Eustass Kidd was busy soothing his brother's tremor, Law had few times contemplating over this little idea of reaching for Pepto-Bismol from the medicine cabinet and drank it straight from the bottle. Or few bottles in his case.

"Well?" All of sudden, Kidd's voice sliced through the doctor's dreadful ideas, earning himself a rather startled look from Law. "Weren't you going to do something about this?" The mechanic nodded at Luffy's leg and dimly wondered since when the cocky male from the bookstore had transformed into a jittery animal.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck. Triple fuck indeed_. Oh-not-so colorful language reigned inside Law's mind, threatening to spill out from his tight lips. Right… THAT leg. Last time he tried to as much take a look at it, an innocent eight year old boy was only inches away from having a seizure. And now he wanted him to repeat that memorable episode? Hot and Sexy as he was, something was definitely wrong with this guy. Although right now, Luffy did appear to be calmed down but to what extent, the doctor certainly got no fucking clue. There was a chance, even for the tiniest, for the boy to be mentally stable at the moment upon the arrival and the soothing effect of his older brother. If that was the case, then there shouldn't be any worry to be administered to him. If that wasn't the case, however, where another panic attack might follow suit, then Law felt he was entitled to a VERY huge amount of anxiety.

By the end of the day, he would be probably got his ass kicked from the school or dead in worst case scenario. And to presume the forgotten check up on a mentally disturbed boy is just the tip of an iceberg of his nightmare.

Just when the doctor was about to take a step forward, Kidd sidled up next to him and whispered, "Cover your hands."

Dull gray eyes blinked and Law's face scrunched up into pure confusion.

"Your tattoos. Just cover them with anything."

Law blinked again, not sure if he had heard the man right. There were so many mysteries pouring in one after another and that definitely did nothing but intensified his anxiety. Despite the overflowing curiosity, Law cast the feeling aside and abide with the other's demand if that would turn the complex situation into something less… complicated and downright scary. This is a total pandemonium! Until today, he would never have thought that the inks he was so proud of would be his downfall. Not to mention that they were done in the first place in every intention to piss off his father by showing his rebellious side.

Quickly, the ebony haired man pulled down his rolled up long sleeves but it still wasn't enough to cover all the inks decorating his hands and fingers. Next, he snatched the standard doctor gloves from little cardboard box sitting idly on the table in hope that Ace didn't get his naughty teeth on this one as well. His partner, Makino had once mentioned to him that such item isn't necessary considering that the infirmary under any circumstances is NOT a surgery room. _Well, tough luck Makino. Because right here, right now, the gloves is a BIG must if I don't want to get murdered and get my sorry carcass tossed out through the window._

Law put the stretchable gloves on and tugged it to get his fingers all the way to the tips of the gloves. At any other time, the doctor would playfully pull the cuff of the glove, stretching it to the desirable amount before releasing it with loud 'snap'. Just to scare the small toddlers of course. But given how tense the situation was, the doctor was sure his raw sense of humor wouldn't be welcomed so he saved the idea for other time, preferably on Ace…

Still, his appearance right now wasn't any less creepy than those psychotic serial killers who had just finished hacking their victim into pieces. The only missing items were a butcher knife and massive amount of blood splattering all over his coat.

To diminish the gore images from his mind wasn't as simple as one would think, but still, Law braved himself to take about five steps forward and once he was at the appropriate distance from him victim—cough—student, the man bent down while expecting the worst at any moment. To his great surprise, his expected nightmare didn't arrive, more so when the core of his anxiety only stared at him with a mild interest.

Wait, wait, wait. This is so bloody wrong. Where's the screaming? Where's the panic, wild look? Half an hour ago, the same boy had screamed in terror as though he was the infamous murderer from the eighteenth century. So why in the hell was he looking straight into his eyes as though he was a foreign object from another dimension?

But the soon his gloved fingers grazed his foot, once again, Luffy went eerie still. Law quickly retracted his fingers and waited for any sign of incoming panic attack. There was none, presumably since the big brother was standing not far from the boy. It was safe to assume the man's sole presence was comforting for Luffy. Once he deemed the raven was a hair relax, Law resumed his checkup, prodding around the ankle joint. The skin was warm topped with a mild swollen around the joint area, but there was no other symptoms that would indicate anything serious.

"It's a mild sprain. Nothing serious." Finally Law was able to find his voice, although it was too hoarse and too cracking to his liking. And no, he would never admit in this life that his voice was shaking.

As calmly as he could, Law tried to get on his feet but in some way, his limbs didn't feel like cooperating with him today. So he ended up stumbling instead. _Dumb, damn, asses_. Like a cat on a hot tin roof, the nurse shuffled towards the compact, twenty-five inches refrigerator—black in color with blue trim and a wipe-off board door suitable for writing notes and to-do-list.

But then again, instead of important notes, Law had idiotically used the bright turquoise marker to draw a MASSIVE cartoon-like picture of a bear wearing a boiler suit. Even worse, he had his name signed just below the sketch.

Damn. He knew he should have written down the names of those he despised the most instead.

Ok. Nevermind. There's at least one every five males in this world that have obsession over a certain animal, yes?

Gloved hand reaching deeper into the refrigerator, Law took out a small size ice pack in which he had prepared those especially for sprain injuries. Since the school was jam-packed with hyperactive children, the tendency for any type of sprain injury was approximately one out of ten kids. Sprain ankle, sprain wrist, dislocated elbow—you name it. So instead of munching on a chocolate bar, the school nurse filled his leisure time preparing those small ice packs for the children own convenience.

With the ice pack in his hand, the nurse then rummaged through the second drawer of the medicine cabinet before pulling out a roll of bandage. He returned to the raven haired boy and dutifully squatting down before reaching for the injured foot. Beneath his palm, Law could sense how tense the muscles were and he knew it was nearly impossible to continue like this if he didn't want to jeopardize the situation, or even his life.

"How about this." The nurse looked up. Soft gray locked with anxious brown. "I'll put this thing on me first to show you that it doesn't hurt, alright?" Law suggested, balancing the small ice pack in between his two hands.

No palpable reply except for a hesitant nod from the small patient. Satisfied with the respond, Law pulled the leg of his pants up until just below the knee and pressed the ice pack on the naked skin.

"See? It's cold, but it doesn't hurt at all."

His front bangs shifted ever so slightly when Luffy bobbed his head in agreement. At what Law considered as consent, the nurse gently pressed the ice pack on the swollen area and grabbed the heel to lift the foot to necessary level.

That's when Law felt his heart stopped breathing, threatening never to come back.

All over the sole of the boy's foot were patches of fibrous tissues that were pinker then the rest of the skin. By all means, Law wasn't born with psychic power. Yet, that little quick glance was more than ready to tell him the telltale behind the scars. The image was engraved deep into the back of his head, enough to make him felt sick in his stomach. Law tried to control his breathing to minimize his trembling as he wrapped the boy's foot together with the ice. His front bangs might not be as long as Luffy's, but they were somewhat managed to hide the tears that were dangerously close from spilling over the corner of his eyes. Once the last layer of the bandage was secured above the ankle with a clip, the man patted the foot softly and cleared his throat.

"I'll be back in a minute." Was all Law could mutter since he couldn't even trust his voice right now. He struggled to put up mediocre, nonchalant facade as the nurse hastily slipped out from the room while avoiding making an eye contact with Kidd.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Law leaned his back against the nearest wall which would be right next to the door. It seemed that his quaking legs could no longer support his body, so the ebony haired man ended up sliding down onto the floor. Almost like a heartbroken child, he pulled one leg up towards his chest while cradling his head with his palm. How could life, no, God be so unfair especially to a child like Luffy who barely understood the world? Inside those dark eyes, Law wondered if the boy used to behold unkind face that hunted and tormented and tortured his life until he was left naked and stricken.

"Law..?"

Said man didn't even raise his head to acknowledge his own name. More shuffling ensued and Law knew his fellow co-worker was standing right next to him.

"I know why he was scared shitless." The nurse mumbled, still keeping his head down. "Scars... I think they are cigarette burn marks." After a moment or two of silence, Law finally lifted his head and looked up at the chatain-haired teacher. "They are all over his foot, Kaku..."

Instead of making any remark, Kaku stayed taciturn, noticing Law's eyes were glossier than they should have been. Even his usually laid-back voice was overwhelmed by sadness. With the newfound revelation, the teacher could finally put two and two together regarding Luffy's earlier panic attack.

"They were old scars. Some of them looked like from years ago." Choking on his own voice, the nurse then cursed inwardly at his inability to form coherent words. "Fuck, Kaku! He's still a kid! How old was he when it first started? Four? Five?"

Kaku waited few seconds after the nurse finally able to finish up his agonizing sentence before speaking. "Luffy used to live with his mother. Not until her death that he finally started living with his brother." The teacher sighed softly as he rested his back against the wall. "Eustass is Luffy's half-brother though. That guy didn't exactly tell me in detail about their past, but I'm guessing he hadn't seen their mother for a very long time. He didn't even know he had a brother to begin with."

The teacher then continued, "We adults sometimes can be worse than monsters, don't we?"

Closing his eyes, Law let his head to fall back with a small 'thunk' as it collided against the wall. He stayed in the position for a few seconds to digest the information before releasing a bitter laugh.

"You know... When I first received my doctor certificate, I really thought that I was ready to face all of this—this unkind and ugly things. But just now, it finally occurred to me…" The nurse cracked his eyes opened. "Maybe I'm not ready for this job after all."

Kaku stared at the male next to him before chuckling. "I have to disagree with that."

The other blinked and tilted his head up.

"You cried for him. The fact that you care about the boy means that you're more than ready for this job." The chuckling continued when Law turned his head away to hide his teary eyes. Kaku then patted the nurse's head lightly in a comforting manner… or childish even.

"Don't worry. You'll be a great a doctor."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx XxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

For the third time in the last ten minutes, Luffy let out a rather tired yawn, each time showing his white little teeth. Puzzled, the child rubbed his eyes and winced when his knuckle accidentally grazed the surface of his eyeball. He didn't feel tired physically but the mind however, proved otherwise. In short, Luffy was mentally exhausted but the boy has yet to discover the truth. All that came into his mind at the moment was how enticing the pillow looked with each passing minute.

"Tired?" Kidd finally asked after seeing the usual large eyes now millimeters away from shutting close. He saw his brother gave a feeble nod. "Why don't you get some sleep first?"

Luffy could barely respond as he let his body fell into the mattress without even hitting the pillow. Everything around him somehow felt so quiet, so peaceful. Just the thing his mind was begging—serenity. Less than twenty seconds, consciousness began to slip away and soon after, the cozy sleep became his sweet visitor.

As he watched the boy's breathing fell into calm, even pattern, Kidd could only wish for Luffy to leave aside everything—the mess, the worry and the tension—and have a sound sleep. Sliding his hand beneath his brother's small head, the man then lifted it up slightly before pulling the pillow closer only to have it slipped under Luffy. Undisturbed with the movement, the child turned to his side and buried his face into the soft pillow, letting sleep to claim him further. Now that he was finally settled, Kidd headed to the window, closed the curtain and went back to sit on the swivel chair. He was about to heave a sigh when Ace suddenly sidled up next to him.

"Kidd… What's wrong with Luffy?" The boy's voice was above whispered and Kidd had to strain his ear in order to listen to him. "Does his foot hurt too much? Did the creepy doctor do anything weird?"

Kidd chewed his lower lip while contemplating on how to answer Ace. The boy was smart to notice something was off, but at the same time, he was too confused and too scared to make any deduction. If Ace was in his teen, he would not shilly-shally in letting the boy know the truth. But the freckled boy was only eight and if possible, Kidd didn't want to offer him answer that would make him view the world any different from what he seeing at the moment. He would tell him, but maybe later. At least, not on that day when even his mind was in a total mess.

"Luffy's fine…" The mechanic pulled the boy closer so he could speak without having to raise his voice. "He's just… too tired. And when you get too tired, you'll get shocked easily."

Doubt was reflected in Ace's eyes, if the frown was any indication. "I don't get shocked when I'm tired."

The man willed himself to be patient. This boy was just too smart for his age. That only intensified his guilt when he had to make up lies for the boys. "Not everyone is born the same, Ace."

"But—"

Lucky enough, Ace didn't get the chance to press the matter further when the door was creaked opened before Law and Kaku entered. Their feet didn't as much make a scrapping noise, more so when they noticed how dark the room have became. Kaku was about to comment regarding the poor illumination but stopped himself after he saw the subject of their worry was sleeping soundly on the bed.

"Asleep, is he?" Unlike Law who leaned against the wall, Kaku slowly made his way next to Kidd.

"Can I bring him home now?" Kidd beat the teacher who had the same idea lingering in his mind.

"I think that's the best." The teacher agreed with the other. He then shifted his attention from the sleeping figure to the other boy. "Ace, you need to return to your class after this."

To Kaku's surprise, Law and Kidd included, Ace slowly nodded. Indeed, they should, since defying was the boy's well known nature. But all the adults inside the room however, knew that Ace was sulking in discontent at their secretive attitude. Pissed even. In truth, they did owe him an answer or two—an answer that would probably give him uncanny ideas about the world of adult, woman especially. Even with combined forces, they could barely juggle one kid whose mind gets fucked up for years and they couldn't afford any additional to the list. It was unfair, but that was the best. For now.

Kidd slipped his hands underneath his brother before lifting him up from the bed. Given his build, the mechanic easily juggled Luffy in his arms. Once the child was balanced on his hip, Kidd then shifted the living bundle here and there so that the small head could rest on his shoulder for Luffy to continue with his slumber. The raven haired boy stirred even so slightly but the mechanic quickly rubbed his back up and down along the spine to lull him back to sleep.

"Here," Kaku handed Luffy's school bag to the redhead which he had retrieved from his class just now. "His stuffs."

Kidd wordlessly took the bag and hoisted it on his other shoulder before walking over to Ace. "You're going home with Sabo later, alright?" He saw the freckled boy's solemn look, ruffling his untamed hair lightly.

Both Kaku and Ace exited the infirmary before Kidd, leaving Law with his inner turmoil. The larger part of him wanted to shelve the matter for now since he doubted anyone was in the mood for chitchat. But the smaller part of him just refused to let it go, and was starting to tinker over Kidd's potential reactions towards him—disgust, irritation, anger. None of them seemed appealing to him. And Law knew the effects were now doubled after he had officially harassed him back in the bookstore.

"Um. Umm..I… Uhh—" Just fucking great.

"Not here. Not now." The words were snapped from between Kidd's clenched teeth. Not only was his tone void of warmness, it also held a deep undercurrent of danger. Before Law could organize the jumbling consonants in his head, a door filled his vision and it was during that moment that the nurse felt the floor had just dropped out from beneath him.

In one day, Law believed he had literally fucked up everything.

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"You alright, Red?"

Kidd twitched, visibly enough for his forehead to clunk against the newly replaced catalytic converter. He made an annoyed grunting noise as he tightened the front and rear connection bolts, and the noise was getting louder when his elbow accidentally knocked over the penetrating oil next to him. It was too fucking hot under the car and with the oil now soaking his arm; there were more than enough reason for him to get extremely irritated. His head turned slightly to the right and through the huge gap between the car and the floor, he saw Bonney's legs still haven't moved away much like an electric poles. Meaning that, the pinkette was still expecting his answer. Like real answer with clear, decipherable words.

Ignoring the damsel in not-so-distressed situation, the redhead then grabbed the ratchet wrench to screw the oxygen sensor back into place. After ensuring all the wirings were in a perfect condition, it was only then Kidd slid out from underneath the car with unreadable expression.

"Yes, Bonney. I'm perfectly fine today. I slept well, I ate eggs, bacons and toast for breakfast and I even petted my cat before leaving the house. Now why would I NOT be alright?" Kidd offered the pinkette with a sensible answer and fought the urge to flash out a sensible smile at the same time. "What's wrong with everyone today asking the very same fucking question? The only one who hasn't asked me The Question is Lucci because Hatori was the one who spoke."

"Are you alright?" may sounds like a simple, normal question, but to Kidd, it was loaded with a LOT of subtexts:

1. Damn, you look like shit today

2. Is that hairdo because you woke up late today or is it simply because your head is fucked up?

3. So far, you've blown up the one oxygen sensor, broke Lucci's favorite mug, jammed the new cutting tool and almost lowered the jack stands with Thatch's still under the car. The only thing you haven't done is blowing up the whole garage.

4. Etc, etc, etc…

"I don't know…" Bonney shrugged and leaned against the table as she watched Kidd closed the tool box none too gently. "Your collateral damages have beaten Thatch's record for the day. At least, the damages he'd caused didn't affect people much."

Seeing that the redhead mechanic hasn't throttled her yet, Bonney decided to poke more. "Is Luffy alright?"

Kidd stood up, snatched the towel hanging on Bonney's shoulder and proceeded to wipe the leftover oil on his arm. The one on him was too dirty with grease, lubricator and all that slimy substance present in the garage. "He's fine." Too fine indeed, it actually scared him. But his 'work family' didn't need to know that. Even if he did want to consult with them, Kidd had no idea how to say what.

Ever since the panic attack incident, his brother has been behaving… normally. Luffy still playing with Nami like he usually did, still taking small naps on the couch every evening, still engorged with a certain sponge character of his favorite cartoon—every routine was performed out of normality, without a slightest hint of fakeness. Indeed, it worried him TOO much that every little thing he did ended up in total chaos.

"I'm fine, Luffy's fine. Everything's alright, okay?" He knew his reassurance was nowhere near okay, especially when the female mechanic was still holding a skeptical gaze. She—no, everyone was worried, of course he knew that. But just for this one, Kidd felt that he needed to deal it himself even if that means digging the answer from the earth core with his bare hands. Due to the restriction of his piling works in the garage, Kidd had yet made time to meet up with the child psychiatrist, Dr. Monet and consult with her about the rare condition (in his opinion). While the redhead highly doubted the shady doctor from the Luffy's school—

All of sudden, the whirling words inside his head all froze up when he saw the most unthinkable person in this world, right there, standing right in front of the garage door.

Or otherwise known as The Shady Doctor.

_That idiot! What the fuck is he doing here?!_

Smokey gray locked with extremely shocked amber, and Kidd had never had this intense murder intent in his life. Oh how he wished he could just ran straight towards the ebony haired man right now. Not to hug or do friendly handshake or even pat him on the shoulder, but to throttle him to death before tossing his body into some lion den in the zoo. Fuck the consequences.

On impulse, Kidd quickly leaped over and stood right next to Bonney who was busy inspecting Ronnin—the small, wooden doll character of the Forest Ghost—perched safely on the tool table., efficiently blocking her direct view of the garage door. He wasn't sure who the asshole responsible putting the one eye patched doll was, but he really wanted to kiss that person (and punched them afterward) because that doll, by any means, served as a big distraction for the pinkette. As for the other mechanics, well, they were either had their face stuffed deep into the car or underneath the car so none of them actually noticed the creep that had just arrived at the mechanic den.

"Hey Bonney," Kidd started. He needed to get rid of Bonney from that particular spot as soon as possible. And if that asshole for a doctor took as much as one step into the garage and attract anyone attention, the world of doctors would be losing one of their members on that very instant.

"You know the blueberry cheese moon cake that you like so much? I think Killer is eating it right now."

"Why that little—" Quickly, Bonney dashed her way through the sea of tools and cars towards the waiting room while venomously muttering, "I told him not to eat it own his own."

Satisfied with the outcome, now it was Kidd's turn to sprint at his full speed all the way to the school nurse. Before the other could open his mouth, the redhead already grabbed him by his arm and proceeded to drag the man far away from the garage, ignoring the pained grunts escaping his lips.

On Law's side, the lanky male had few times stumbling over his own two legs at the drag force. _Is this guy trying to pluck his arm off or what?_ Once the mechanic deemed they were at least hundred meters away from his nosy co-workers, Kidd finally released his captive and glared at him. It wasn't hateful, only annoyed as hell. As Law rubbed the sore muscles of his arms, he tried not to size the man before him, but his effort was washed away along the drain when he foolishly took a quick glance. Plain tank top, a black coverall cinched around his waist, the goggles stuck on his forehead, the oil smudge on his cheek—damn, everything about this guy was a lethal weapon and the nurse fought the need to throw himself at that man.

But the other must have caught his lecherous idea when the crease on Kidd's forehead went deeper. Shit! If Law wanted to save the situation, then that would be the perfect moment.

"Wait!" Law heard himself saying as he put his hands up in a surrendering manner. "Before you call me stalker or any other nasty nicknames, I just want you to know that I'm sorry!"

The scowl still glued on Kidd's face and Law began to think that might actually be his natural expression.

"I mean…" The nurse continued. "I'm sorry that your brother had a panic attack because of me. I've been in that school less than a month so didn't know his story and I really didn't mean it and I…I…" His voice was getting fainter and fainter as Law casted his gaze further down to the ground to avoid Kidd's scrutinizing gaze. "I'm really sorry."

"It's alright."

"Wha—?"

"I said it's alright." Kidd repeated himself and shook his head. "Look, it's not your fault, got it?" The redhead then stepped further back to lean his back against the wall and shoved his hands into the front pockets. "I was panicked, scared, confused and everything. My head was pretty fucked up that time and I just needed to lash at someone." Looking forward, Kidd saw the nurse was staring back anxiously for him to finish his sentence. "…And you were the nearest person. Sorry."

Law couldn't believe his ears. Did the guy just apologize to him? No double meaning, no sarcasm, just a plain sincere apology?

"Ermm…O-oh…" Something was unfurled inside his gut and suddenly, the nurse felt much lighter in the head and…happier. Yerp, that's right. Happier indeed. "So…" Law drawled, scrapping the pavement surface with the tip of his shoe. "I'm not hated then?"

"I never said I hate you. I just don't like you."

Somehow, Law wasn't sure if he should be thrilled or crestfallen with that sort of answer.

"And… Is Monkey alright...?" Carefully, the nurse questioned, searching for any discomfort on the man's features.

Kidd rolled his eyes. "Just call him Luffy will you? I've wanting to change his surname anyway. And Luffy… I'm not sure myself if he's okay or not."

"You mean he's still having panic attacks? Nightmares?"

"No, no. not that."Arms crossed over his chest, the mechanic contemplating over the decision to discuss that matter with the other. But despite that shady appearance, Law indeed without doubt held the title of a school nurse and therefore, possessing medical knowledge. He wasn't sure if psychology was one of them, but still, it won't hurt anyone to ask, yeah?

"Luffy, he… I don't know." With a small sigh, the redhead pulled his goggles down to let them dangled helplessly around his neck. "Something's wrong with him. He—"

"Doesn't remember anything during his panic attack?"

Kidd blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. "Yeah… How..?"

"I thought something was strange that time…" Law rubbed his goateed chin as his mind traveled back to that day. "So I was right then."

"Do you know something about it?"

"Memory loss. It's actually what you call a byproduct of stress. I learned about it in Neurobiology of Stress class I took back in college. Never like that class though, since the professor had this weird habit of—"

"Focus, doctor!" Kidd barked to interrupt the nurse useless piece of recollection. Really now. "Now about the memory loss…"

Law coughed sheepishly. "Right… Memory loss. You see, when we become too stressed or anxious over a long period of time, our body releases this hormone called cortisol."

"Cortisol eh…" Although it was his first time hearing that term, Kidd still took his time mulling over it. "So what does this cortisol do?"

"To put it in a simple way, it disturbs the communication tower in our brain that's supposed to broadcast information. That's why the brain bogged down and has a difficult time sorting things out." Law paused to see if the mechanic wanted to raise any question, but when none came, the nurse continued. "Then there's another thing."

If it wasn't for the wall supporting him, the redhead would be stumbling by now. "There's more?" It's already this bad and yet, Law still had more bad news to be delivered?

"Yes there's more. In addition to cartisol, when someone is having a panic attack, that stress and anxiety themselves are an intense distraction. So during that time, Luffy's mental energy was focusing too much on the stressful thoughts instead of using it to create memories."

A small groan vibrated at the back of his throat as Kidd pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is too fucking confusing…"

"Alright, let put it this way." The nurse decided to change his way of clearing up his earlier information.

"Let's say you're in middle of watching a sport game on the television and at the same time, I'm talking to you. Because you're too focusing with the game, you wouldn't able to create memory from my chattering because you're using all of your mental energy on the game instead. Still, in a normal situation, although you don't remember anything I've said, you're still able to memorize the game since there's no distraction in your brain cells. But in Luffy's case however, since he was in terrified and stressful state, the cortisal that his body produced was hindering his brain's activity. So that's why not only he wasn't able to create memories on his surroundings, but as well the stressful thoughts he had during the panic attack."

"So even though he saw all the things in front of him, he still couldn't store the information inside his head?" Kidd deduced and saw the other nodded. "Isn't that like recording a video without a tape?"

"Exactly." Now that he knew Kidd had finally able to grasp his theory, Law sighed in relief.

"So everytime he has a panic attack, he may forget everything afterward?"

"I can't say everytime though, but the possibility is high." Law shifted his weight to one leg and shoved his hand into his jeans pocket.

"But that's not a bad thing, right?" Kidd heard himself saying. "I mean, whatever he forgets is all related about his panic attack, stressful thought and all that, yeah?"

"Actually… it can be bad."

Kidd straightened his pose. This shit turned out to be bad? "How so?"

"Well, just imagine if you keep finding yourself inside an unknown room surrounded by unknown people. It's enough to make you think that you're going nuts. For kids, they may think they're sick or different from other people. So in a long run, not only it would eat the memory but also the physical health."

In front of him, the mechanic sighed heavily as he rubbed his neck with a torn expression. It made the nurse felt bad for ruining his day. No, his day was already ruined, BADLY, since the moment of his arrival but his revelations just now was just like a cherry on a already spoiled cake. Still, it was his obligation to inform as much as his medical library was capable of even in reality; he would rather chew his own arm than facing this shitty feeling.

"Though…" Law's small voice didn't as much attract attention from Kidd as the redhead was deep in his own thoughts. "There is a way to treat it. In a psychological way of course…"

Immediately, Kidd's head snapped forward and for a moment, Law could have sworn he heard a snapping sound. "Come again?"

"W-well," Here it goes. The nurse knew the method he would be proposing next was next to crazy, but at the same time, it was the most logical thing he could think of. "For a start, we need to tone down the anxiety level bit by bit and that can only be done by exposing Luffy back to what scares him the most. GRADUALLY and very SLOWLY."

A skeptical look was thrown at him and Law sensed that he needed to add something to reinforce his reason. "If you don't, then Luffy will forever be terrified at them and also will forever have a panic attack everytime he encounters them."

Kidd snorted incredulously. "Exposing huh? You want me to dig out our dead mother back from the grave? Because that's the ONLY thing he's scared of at the moment."

Law twitched at the harsh torn. Great, he had just touched the raw nerve again. "I never said that. Whatever bits and pieces that reminds him of his…" He bit his lips, wondering if he should continue. But seeing that Kidd was waiting patiently for him, he decided to proceed. It couldn't be help though. He was the doctor here and therefore, knew the best for the kid, so the mechanic just had to suck it up and listen to his explanation for now. "… bad past, which is the one that we should expose to him."

Not giving Kidd a chance to cut him midways, Law quickly added. "I mean, he was scared of me. So something about me must have reminded him about his past."

When the redhead didn't make any come back, the nurse felt he had just escaped from a lion's mouth. But the second he saw Kidd opened his mouth, his heart went back to action—fast and furious.

"For once… you speak like a normal person."

And for once, Law's face fell into a very flat expression. He's been spitting buckets of his saliva in order to do the toilet-roll explanation, yet the other didn't even see him as a normal person? He's lucky to be born hot and sexy or Kidd would be eating his shoes by now.

"Well, thanks for explanation. It's helpful, I guess." Kidd pealed himself off the wall and began to walk back to the garage.

"Wait!" On pure instinct (or so Law hoped), the nurse stretched out his hand and grabbed Kidd by the wrist. And he regretted his action almost immediately when he felt a ten thousand volt of electric current attacking every each of his nerve, raising the hair at the back of neck. Warm like beach sand—that was the best description he could think of Kidd's hand. He wondered if he should squeeze the hand more just to feel—shit, nevermind. Mr. Hot and Sexy was already glaring at him.

Reluctantly, Law released the other's hand. "I mean, now that's everything is clear, I think I owe you a smack or hard pinch in the butt."

Or at least, that was Kidd thought the other had said just now.

"Excuse me?" The man narrowed his eyes.

Taken back on the reaction, Law blinked, deeply wondering what kind of raw nerve he had touched just now. "I said, I owe you a proper self introduction." He saw the other's features softened and believe the line was clear to proceed. "After all, we sort of start off on the wrong foot."

Oh-hoo… So that's what he said. "We? It was you who started everything." Kidd returned back while emphasizing the word YOU.

"You're right…" Law bit his lip nervously and kept his gaze down to the ground. "I did try to hit on you at the wrong place and a wrong time."

"With a crappy pick up line." The redhead added. With Law keeping his head down, it was hard to make out his expression. Still, he noticed the twitching.

"Yes, with a crappy pick up line. So… Here goes." Finally Law looked up and held out his hand.

"Hello, my name's Trafalgar Law. I've just graduated from medical school and now doing my training as a nurse in an elementary school"

"Wha—"

Law wasn't stopping and continued. "And I have this weird habit of adding –ya at the end of people's name. A lot of people found it too annoying so I stopped, but it still comes out whenever I'm extremely happy, or extremely angry or extremely—"

While the nurse still busy spouting on and on about his so called self introductory, Kidd could only gaped and swallowed the nonsensical information.

"—I once asked my father if I could have a little brother and the next day, he brought home a spotted Greyhound. He named it 'Utopia' but I called it 'Bananawani' because the dog's fur looked like a mangy banana from the night market—.

Kidd couldn't stop himself from snorting.

"—when I was thirteen, I had a fight with my father so I drained all of his expensive wines down into the sink and replaced them with green tea mixed with grape juice. And on the next day, when I found out my hair was pink, I screamed like a hellion inside the bathroom. Asshole had put pink hair dye into my shampoo bottle—"

And Kidd was already laughing. A non-restricted type of laugh that had the mechanic to place his palm on the wall so he wouldn't fall down and made a fool out of himself.

"You… I know you're one hell of a weird guy…" Kidd voice came out in a little hiccup as he tried to speak through all that laughing. "But I would never have thought you'd be this oddball."

"I prefer unique."

Five seconds, ten seconds—Kidd started at the ebony haired man who still holding out his hand. "Pink? Really?"

"Oh yeah. The soft kind of pink like a cotton candy. When I first walked outside the house with a pink hair, a bunch of kindergarten kids chased me around because they thought I had cotton candy stuck on my head."

Chuckling, the mechanic shook his head before snatching the towel hanging on the right side of his hips. He tried to wipe his hand as clean as possible, but the lack of water and soap, it was nearly impossible. Well, at least, they weren't greasy and slimy anymore.

At last, Kidd took the tanner hand into his and shook it lightly. "Kidd. Eustass Kidd."

That moment when their hands were clasping together, Law had to bite the corner of mouth to prevent him from grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Eustass-ya—"

Kidd raised an eyebrow. _Oh fuck_.

"I mean," The nurse cleared his throat. "Nice to meet you, Eustass."

Then, suddenly, something hit him and Kidd tugged the hand he was clasping on closer, causing Law to almost stumble forward and hit his face against that broad chest. Well, not that he minded. Yerp, not at all.

"Wait… How do you know I work here?"

"Erm…" The intensity in Law's eyes was anything but innocence. "I sort of poked here and there."

"You mean poked Kaku's files?"

"Err… yes?"

Their hands were still glued together as the mechanic fixated his gaze on the nurse. "You're not here just to discuss about my brother, are you?"

"Of course I do!" His not-so-manly voice came out in a slightly higher pitch. "That's one of my reasons along with some other little things…"

"… Things? Like..?" Kidd prompted.

"Things like…" Law tried to tug his hand free but shit, the grip was too firm he felt his ability to breathe properly has been jeopardized. "About Luffy… About introducing myself in a proper way… and I'm still waiting for that cup of coffee."

"… Coffee?"

"Yes, coffee." Law nodded. "It's not just a regular cup of coffee! You can tell me more about your brother's condition over THAT cup of coffee! After all, I'm the school nurse and I need to know more about him so that I wouldn't freak him out again the next time he sees me—" Oh God, he probably spewing out illogical basis by now but damn, his brain to mouth filter wasn't working properly today. "—and like I said, it's best to expose him to what scares him the most—"

Both thin, red eyebrows now have reached the hairline. "—and how does a cup of coffee have anything to do with this?"

Shoulder sags, Law heaved a sigh. "Have you forgotten, Eustass? Something about me triggered him into having a panic attack. If I could get him to get to know me, Luffy's will slowly learn that the thing he's afraid won't do any harm to him anymore."

"And this can be done over a cup of coffee?"

And Law finally lost it. "Yes, this can be done over a cup of coffee! Or tea, or beer or grape juice or whatever!" With twitchy eyes, the man fought the urge to stomp his foot hard against the pavement just to get his points across. "Just bring Luffy with you so that I can talk to him without having to scare the shit out of him!"

Now it was Kidd's turn to be knocked for six at the sudden outburst.

"My point is…" Ignoring the startled look, the nurse took a deep breath. "Look, I'm well aware that you treasure your brother and will do anything to protect him. But the thing is, Eustass, that doesn't mean you can forever hide him from his own fears."

When there was no come back from the mechanic, Law thought his life was already doomed, more than ever when Kidd released their hands. His expression was unreadable and that what feared Law the most since he had no clue what's running inside the other's mind. Worse, the nurse felt something coiled around his heart, his guts, plus his other internal organs at the sight of Kidd's retreating back as the redhead walk away from him.

"Uhh, umm..." How fucking great. He had stupidly snapped at the man and now Kidd was royally pissed at him. "Is that a no..?" His voice was more a like a squeak and Law doubted the man had even heard him.

But he did. And Law could tell that after Kidd suddenly stopped dead on his track and spun on his heels halfway, only enough to glance at the nurse through the corner of his eyes.

"Spider Café, this Saturday, 9 A.M sharp. You better be there on time because I don't like my 'date' to be late."

And just like that, Kidd resumed his walking, leaving Law with his jaw already on the ground. Once he had repositioned his jaw back to its proper place, Law grinned, and grinned and grinned some more. When he felt the slight ache around his cheeks' muscles, it was only then the nurse realized he had been grinning for a full two minutes like a lunatic. He doubted Kidd's definition of 'date' was the same as the one in his vocabulary, but still, enough to make him feel extremely giddy. Oh yes, indeed.

From that point on, a rather big, frivolous smile was plastered on his face and Law didn't even give a damn if dozens of other passerby gave him a weird look. Heck, he wouldn't even bat an eyelid if there's a fish riding a bike right in front of him. But as he rounded the corner, the smile suddenly evaporated when Law realized he was missing something.

He hates coffee more than anything.

**-To be Continued-**

**A/N: Well, I've the hints plus the explanation is enough to make everyone squeal. Anyway, I'm soooo sleepy and hungry!**


End file.
